The downtown area used to be a mess. In part of the renewed buildout, it’s starting to really come together. Money is coming in and the old run of dive bars, insurance agents, and abandoned storefronts is getting turned over to house, amongst other things, our favorite local sushi spot.

One thing refreshed downtowns all too often get now is updated parking meters. I’m sure it’s a private equity play. I’m sure it’s a scaled-up business with some technical monitoring, because they make you have an app for everything now, and I don’t begrudge it so much as I get it. Why does a town want to be responsible for this when they could outsource it to a venture or PE backed shop who subsidizes it and gives them a cut without most of the headaches?

I get it. But I still don’t like it.

So the meters used to run until 5pm, you know, when the businesses closed shop for the day, but now they run until 6 with the new meter-app company on the prowl. The signs don’t all agree yet. I didn’t even notice them and still had the 5pm time stuck in my head when we went into the restaurant.

We were meeting my mother-in-law there and out of curiosity, which was far more useful than my confused negligence, she asked our waitress (and one of the restaurant owners, because - skin in the game still matters to some people on this main strip) what time the meters ran until.

We got a great story about how they’ve more or less befriended the new meter maid. He’s a nice enough guy. It sounds like he stops in once and a while too. They see him in front of the building all day, and I’m sure on at least one or seven occasions they’ve been racing out to beat him to a ticket.

Our trusted information source explained that while the signs say 6pm, the guy gets off at 5pm, so as best as she can tell, there’s nobody to write a ticket after 5pm and therefore nothing to worry about.

I don’t have a problem with feeding a meter. I don’t have a problem with supporting local infrastructure that enables local businesses to do what they do. It’s a necessary cost and I get it.

But what I love is a local story, complete with the characters, and the realistic level of interconnected humanity, that gives a place personality.

We were in on a secret, a few cents richer than we otherwise would have been, and the sushi was fantastic.

ps. this post was in part inspired by Dave Nadig’s unfettered confidence in small businesses being the ultimate beneficiary of AI (with an added layer of venture/PE thoughts) in our latest episode of Click Beta. Check out the episode AND THE PLAYLIST HE MADE here.