The Daily Telegraph had a recent story about the biggest money earning meters in the Sydney CBD, and an amusing bit of writing it was too. After a FOI request, which the city was apparently reluctant to answer, it turns out that the top meter pulled in $47,000 in 2008. Not bad revenue for the city.
Written tongue in cheek, the author, Justin Vallejo, gave the meter a name and went on to reveal the top earners and the "bludgers" working for the city. You can read the article here.
It was unfortunately spoiled a bit by the final comment from a disgruntled customer with the line "We're getting ripped off".
Like so many drivers, she obviously had the opinion that the money paid into the meters was going into someone's pocket, not the cities coffers to help pay for the facilities which she was using, such as the footpaths, roads, libraries, and so on.
Councils are so often the easy target for everything that goes wrong in peoples lives, even when it has absolutely nothing to do with them. On more than one occasion during my days on street, I have been advised to go catch some real criminals and leave the poor motorist alone. Sorry folks, but that's the coppers job!
And no, the council is not responsible for the heat, cold , rain, bad drivers, your house being burgled, or the noisy child on the bus.
Back to the article though, it was interesting to note that 60 of the city's meters averaged a poultry $250 per annum. That doesn't look like good use of resources - and the council can certainly take the rap for that!
JP
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