Police are working hard to track down a recent vandal as over one hundred parking meters were recently filled with spray foam and colored purple and green with spray paint. While quite the unique act, whoever is behind this is going to be in some serious trouble.
In downtown Bloomington, a parking enforcement officer noticed something quite odd about the parking meters he was coming into contact with just last week. Someone had damaged many in a way that made them inoperable and impacted most of the meters along downtown streets. While parts should be arriving soon to fix the problems caused, this secret vandal has saved the locals a decent bit of money it seems until things are back working properly.
Fox 59 reported as follows on the topic:
Police say someone spray-painted the meters pink and green and filled the coin and card slots with expanding foam. They estimate it will cost about $5,000 to fix the damage.
“I got out of my car, and I walked around and there was spray foam insulation coming out of all the holes, and it was crazy,” said Allie McHaley, who works in downtown Bloomington and discovered the mess Thursday morning.
All of the parking meters that were impacted were located around a city square and along nearby downtown streets. Replacement parts to fix the damage have already been ordered.
Until those arrive, parking enforcement officials ask people to use the ParkMobile phone app to pay for parking. Officers say they will not ticket people who park at meters who do not use the parking app.
While you might already be picking up that this vandal had a very helpful message in mind those in authority are not listening and don’t seem to care about the message, just the setback stemming from it. Things like this are a lot more common than you might think but usually not this widespread. This is not the first time we’ve heard of parking meters being filled with spray foam. Back in 2016 stories were circulating of a cancer patient who did this to a meter at his local hospital.
That specific man did-so to protect high parking rates specifically those outside of health centers. This highlighting how sick people were being forced to spend more money than necessary all the while merely trying to get the cancer treatments that they so desperately need to survive. He was and still is touted by many as a hero which I am sure whoever is behind this huge parking meter takedown is as well.
What do you think about parking meters in general? Should parking always be free or do these kinds of things serve their own purposes? I for one think that while they are important in some places, there needs to be serious limits set in regards. Do you think they will be able to find the man/woman behind the damage done this go around?
Featured Image Via Fox59 News