Beware the Parking Bandit

If you don't know already, ALL parking within a 500 mile radius of Dickson Street now costs money. Thinking of parking on a sidestreet? Ha! The Fayetteville city council has thought of that! You have to have a residential parking decal to park within 500 miles of Dickson Street or you will get a $70 ticket.

The city is also being sneaky to catch you unawares and line their pockets with duckets. To wit: there are signs that tell you about the new Draconian parking rules, but they are few, finely printed, and placed discreetly. The parking fee collection machines are also a treat.

Behold the enemy:
When using cash, pay attention to the prompts because THE MACHINE WILL NOT GIVE YOU A REFUND. For example, if you choose one hour and push a dollar into the slot, the machine will happily print you a one hour ticket for the 50 cent parking fee AND THEN YOU CAN SUCK IT FOR THE OTHER 50 CENTS! That's right, you can overpay for your time and not get a refund. Nice. Oh, and did I mention that there are different hourly fees for different days of the week and times of the day? Nice and confusing eh?.

I'm sure that most folks won't mind paying a few bucks for parking, but why the sneakiness? Does the city council feel stupid for approving the permit for that massive (and exceedingly UGLY) parking deck behind Underwood "Plaza" that no one wants to park in?