WKBK Keene’s Talk Back hosted by Cynthia Georgina and featuring guest host councilor Jim Duffy discussed the recent uptick in the practice of Robin Hooding in the area. Illustrated in the following video is the first two minutes of the segment. A full sixteen minutes was spent on the subject with three callers phoning in their perspective. You can hear all sixteen minutes in a video at Fr33manTVraw (embedded below text).
CG: And, what’s going on with people plugging the meters for other people, have you heard about that?
JD: Oh, yes, I’ve seen it’s back. It was going on a while ago. Robin Hood, they call themselves the Robin Hoods, and what they do is, if they see an expired meter, they’ll plug it, and according to the videos they’ve posted, either with nickels or quarters. A nickel only gets you six minutes, so you know, you still might get a ticket if you’re depending on Robin Hood, if they’re only putting nickels…
CG: And, so what is the purpose of this?
JD: Well, I’m not a spokesperson for the Robin Hood folks, but from what I understand, they believe it’s unfair to charge people to park, or to give them tickets, or to limit their access.
CG: But they want to make sure that the city still gets the money that they make from the parking meters?
JD: Well they don’t want people to get…I think, it’s a good question. I think they don’t want people to get parking tickets, have to pay parking tickets. So they’re plugging the meters to keep people from getting parking tickets.
CG: Ah, I see.
JD: So maybe there’s a method there, because a nickel, if it saves someone from getting a ticket, a ticket’s five bucks, the city would lose… So, I don’t know what their rationale is. But, I think it’s to make the point that they’re not a big fan of parking tickets.
CG: Do the people know that they’re doing this?
JD: Actually, from what I understand, yes. Well, they actually leave cards on the windshields, and I actually saw one video. I went online, and it’s the Free Keene, watched a few of them, and actually, people came up to them and thanked them for doing that.
CG: Really?
JD: Yeah.
CG: I suppose they, I mean I’m probably one of those people that if I plug my meter…
JD: Well, it’s not illegal. It’s not illegal to plug a meter, though there is a two hour limit. And I don’t know how well that’s enforced, you know.
[…] Click here to view the embedded video. […]
My breakdown: A women,who seems to be a friend of Cynthia, calls to complain about being saved from tickets.
Cynthia says : “when she first heard of this she called the police” then followed that up with that she had done it HERSELF,for a friend … I wonder if Cynthia called the pd on HERSELF when she did it for her friend. ..
Councilor Duffy,who voted FOR the bearcat and against the people’s loud and clear voice, wants to increase the parking meter fees.
I’ve heard that grumpy lady call in before. She’s never happy about anything, lol.
Back in the 1960’s Goldcoast, Australia tourist strip got parking meters and the locals fought back against this bad image. In 1967, local businesses started a Robin Hood group that is so successful it still exists today.The businesses would all chip in a few bucks a week, now there is strong competition to “sponsor” the Robin Hoods, its a great model. This could maybe work in Keene. Businesses that sponsor the Keene Robin Hood could get lots of good publicity and goodwill with the community. Robin Hood’s calling card could list the business sponsors logos and sponsors could also be… Read more »