Parking on a Dime

One of my greatest accomplishments on the daily scale is finding a good parking space, and since I have lived in Charleston off and on since before hurricane Hugo, I have an ever evolving bag of parking tricks for different locations around the city, the Gibbes Museum for example...never mind. That said, I would like to introduce the smart card as the latest way for the city to take your money. Having the SmartCard means you no longer have to walk around with a pocket full of quarters for the parking meters, just insert your credit-card size SmartCard and you're good to go. I prefer broken meters or freind's driveways or unpatrolled lots, but to each his own. SmartCards keep you from having to carry coins and they even refund unused minutes, but they don't extend the time limit on the meter. You can pick up a SmartCard--or in my case pay your parking ticket--at 180 Lockwood Blvd., where parking is free, if you can find a spot in the lot. Despite the rumors to the contrary, there is lots of parking downtown and by the way, it would not kill any of us to walk more!