On this day in 1941, Fargo approved a trial of parking meters downtown, with plans to install 500 meters over 40 days to help alleviate parking congestion.
Here is the full story as published in the newspaper that day:
Fargo will try parking meters; Installation scheduled within 40 days
Fargo is testing a parking meter system.
The city commission made this decision on Monday. It passed the parking meter ordinance on final reading and authorized the mayor and city auditor to enter into a contract with the National Park-O-Graf Corporation of Chicago to install 500 meters there, with a clause authorizing the purchase of 200 more meters if a study by the company’s engineering staff and Fargo police shows that number of meters is necessary.
Mayor F. Olsen and City Auditor K. Jorgenson signed a contract with Park-O-Graf immediately after the meeting.
The company agrees to install the meters there within 40 days at a cost of $65 per meter, with the understanding that if after a month’s testing they are found unsatisfactory, the company will remove them at no cost to the city.
In the meantime, the company retains 75 percent of the revenue, which goes toward covering the cost of the meters. Once they raise enough money to pay for them, the cars will become the property of the city, which will receive all the proceeds. In some cities, according to Edward Crosby, the company’s salesman, they paid for themselves in six months.
The 25 percent that will go to the city during the trial period will be used to cover meter enforcement costs. If the city orders meters at the end of the trial period, the company retains 75 percent of the cost of installation and removal of the meters.
The areas to be counted are not clearly marked. During the commission’s informal discussion, the areas mentioned included Broadway from Front to Sixth Avenue S; Knit stitch from stitches nine to four; North Pacific from Tenth to Third Streets, part of First Avenue N, Second Avenue N, Roberts Street and Fifth AU N, Eighth Street S from Front to First AU S and Seventh Street S from Front to First AU S.
Mr. Crosby told the commission that for every meter there would be a 20-foot space for parallel parking and a 10-foot space for diagonal parking. In diagonal parking, cars enter at an angle of 40 degrees.
These will be dual-type meters, accepting either kopecks or nickels.
For pennies, a motorist can park for 12 minutes and receive an additional five-minute benefit. Or he may put in a few pennies for a proportionately longer period.
Or he can put in a nickel and get one hour of parking with a five-minute grace period.
The operating hours of the meters are not exactly set, but most likely it will be from 9:00 to 17:00, and possibly until 18:00. During these periods, no one may park in metered areas without placing a coin in the meter box that regulates the parking space their vehicle occupies.
The commission plans to maintain one-hour parking restrictions on streets adjacent to the main business area outside of metered zones. Within the zone, additional hours will cost additional nickels.
When a coin falls into the meter slot, it slides into a spot marked to show how much time the motorist has left. The coin is slowly lowered into the receiver below. It is powered by a spring, like a watch, which must be wound every 200 hours. There is no need to pull a lever like the manual type meters used in some cities.
The machines sit 4 feet 8 inches above the sidewalk line with the slots at the top.
Mr. Crosby said meters last year averaged $5.53 per meter per month for all types and all U.S. cities.
Jack Johnson, secretary of the retail department of the Fargo Chamber of Commerce, and W. P. Chesnut, chamber secretary, reported that downtown businessmen are favoring the installation of meters during a trial period.
Both called for strict enforcement of meter rules.
“I believe that once the meters are subject to a fair review, they will serve the purpose for which they are installed, solely for the convenience of Fargo store patrons and to avoid the hassle of not being able to find a parking space anywhere near downtown business,” Chesnut said.
The regulation governing the use of meters stipulates that the police can confiscate any vehicle if the rules are violated.
Advertisement published in The Forum on July 1, 1941. Newspapers.com
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