PACIFIC BEACH, CA – In the coming days, the City of San Diego will be installing parking meters on Garnet Avenue, between Mission Boulevard and Fanuel Street, and some areas of Cass St, Hornblend St and Bayard St.
In an effort to please locals, the city has decided to introduce a fleet of savvy parking meters programmed to charge double for vehicles with Arizona license plates.
The latest initiative, titled “Pay-by-Plate Zonie Tax”, aims at alleviating the lack of parking, which has often left locals circling the blocks in a hopeless quest for a parking spot. Now, with the new meter system in place, they may just find a spot to nestle their beach chairs and watch as the ‘Zonies’ fumble for change.
The meters, unlike their archaic predecessors, are powered by state-of-the-art recognition technology capable of identifying an Arizona license plate from miles… err, meters away. Upon sighting a parched Arizonian vehicle, these digital watchdogs double the hourly rate, efficiently siphoning funds that will be redirected towards enhancing local beach facilities.
The out-of-towners from Arizona are not amused. Phoenix native, Cactus Carl, vented his frustrations. “This is discrimination. Just because AZ has a lower tax rate and homes under $1M doesn’t mean we should be punished!”
Meanwhile, a group of tech-savvy teenagers has already launched an app that offers to cloak your license plate number with a virtual California plate—for a small fee of course. This digital disguise, they claim, will save you from the predatory clutches of the PB parking meters.
And as the sun sets on the parking meter feud, one thing is clear—the summer in San Diego is about to get less crowded.
