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Those new “muni-meters” on Atlantic Avenue are no-armed bandits, business owners and residents say.

The Euro-styled, computerized parking boxes that were installed along the avenue between Hicks Street and Fourth Avenue last month take your money even during the strip’s “No Parking” hours, 4–7 pm every day.

“It’s crazy that the machine isn’t programmed to give back your money if you try to pay for parking during those hours,” said Sandy Balboza, president of the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association.

“If I put money in a machine and it spits out a receipt for an hour of parking, I would naturally think it’s legal to park.”

Balboza and others have seen several cars towed away — despite a freshly printed receipt indicating that the driver paid for parking — since the new meters were installed.

Balboza is calling for the machines to be reprogrammed, but Department of Transportation spokesman Craig Chin said that drivers need to read signs, whether they’re on Atlantic or a side street equipped with the old mechanical meters.

“The procedure for paying for parking on Atlantic Avenue is the same with muni-meters as it was with single-space meters,” Chin said. “Motorists need to check the parking regulations before feeding the meter.”

That answer didn’t satisfy one local businesswoman.

“The other day, I saw two guys running back to their car as it was being towed,” said Frances Caroll of Silk Road Antiques.

“They clearly thought they could park there. Couldn’t the machine just be programmed to flash ‘No Parking, 4-7’?”

©2006 Community Newspaper Group