Be sure before nixing meters

In the board game Monopoly, nobody complains when they land on "Free Parking."

The same goes for motorists in Salt Lake City. And Mayor Rocky Anderson hopes there will soon be more spaces to go around. He is studying the pros and cons of doing away with the city's parking meters. Visitors will be able to park their cars on the street, compliments of the city.

It's a bold idea that deserves to be examined.

It is also an idea that comes with more than few questions.

Meters bring in a great deal of revenue for the city. And though the thinking is that more shoppers downtown would bring in revenue that would off-set the loss, taxpayers need to know how the shortfall will be made up if it doesn't.

Currently, finding parking on the streets downtown is a task. Will junking the parking meters free up more spaces or simply allow downtown workers to park for hours at end without consequence?

And what of the downtown parking lots? Motorists complain much more about the cost of the lots than the cost of the meters.

Parking meters, of course, have always come with their share of headaches. Automobile owners, for instance, are ticketed for violations when they may not have been behind the wheel, in the city or aware there was an infraction. It is also a violation to feed the meter of a friend — as if good turns are criminal.

And what are the rules when it comes to broken meters and stalled cars?

For most parkers, Paul Newman had the right idea about meters in the movie "Cool Hand Luke." Twist the tops off the things and suffer the consequences.

Parking meters can be a pain.

Nevertheless, the pain of doing away with them can be very real as well.

Denver seems to have done away with meters without much of a downside. And small towns along the Wasatch Front often offer free parking to downtown shoppers.

The mayor has implemented a parking "token" program to ease the burden of meter feeding. But the idea of doing away with them all together is intriguing.

We're pleased the city will do studies and get input before coming to any conclusions.

As with any form of tax or fee, meter fees — and the resulting fines — are bothersome.

It's important to be sure life without the meters will not be even worse.