Where Do You Park? Mark Finds A Broken Meter.

Parking downtown. It's a thing. I park downtown 5 days a week because our radio station is downtown.

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Parking in Billings has been pretty reasonable for a long time. I can't remember when the price went up for a parking ticket, but for the longest time, your fine was 2 bucks. The part that I liked was that the envelope that came with the ticket held two hundred pennies to pay the fine.

It seems like if you're looking for a parking place downtown at noon or dinnertime, it's almost impossible to find one.

But yesterday I was having lunch with some friends who wanted to go to Jake's. As I got next to the parking garage just past Stellas on 1st Ave North, I saw that the four metered parking places on the North side of the street were empty.

So, I pulled up and looked. The meter closest to 27th has a big yellow "no parking" stripe in front of it. So, I have no idea if you can park there or not.

So, I backed up one meter. No good. The slot where you put in your quarters was jammed with something. So, I backed up one more meter. That one would take quarters but it had no display. Must be time to change batteries. So, yesterday I parked for free.

I'm not a parking garage guy. I'd rather park farther away and just walk than go into a parking garage.

I've instructed my daughter to do the same.

So if you wanna meet up with me downtown, pick a restaurant that you like and I'll see you at 11 a.m.