You put a quarter in the parking meter and you are paying rent. Not for an apartment. For six feet of curb. The parking meter is the landlord of the street. The parking meter charges you to stand still in a city that charges you to move. You pay the subway to go somewhere. You pay the meter to go nowhere. The parking meter is the most honest transaction in New York because it tells you exactly how much your time is worth. A quarter buys you twelve minutes. That is your time converted into metal.

You have seen the meter maid. The meter maid walks the block like a shark swims the reef. The meter maid does not care about your story. The meter maid does not care that you were only gone for two minutes. The meter maid does not care that the deli was out of milk and you had to go to the other deli. The meter maid has a machine that prints money and the money comes out of your pocket. The meter maid is the tax collector of the curb and the tax is always due.

You remember the old meters. The ones with the little red flag that said violation. The flag popped up like a referee calling a foul. That red flag was the most democratic piece of technology in the city. It did not care if you drove a Cadillac or a station wagon. Expired is expired. The red flag was the city's way of saying time is up and time is up for everybody. The parking meter was the last place in New York where a rich man and a poor man got treated exactly the same.

You know what I used to do. I used to play guitar next to a row of parking meters on Bleecker Street. The meters were my audience. A row of silver heads on metal poles all facing me. The meters were better than most audiences because the meters never talked during the song. The meters never checked their phones. The meters just stood there and ticked and when the time ran out they told the truth. I played until the meters expired and then I moved to the next block. The parking meter was my set list. When the meter ran out the set was over.

You notice the meters are digital now. No more quarters. No more red flags. You pay with your phone. You pay for parking with the same device you use to call your mother. The old meter had a face. The old meter had a personality. The old meter would jam and give you free time and that was a gift from the city. The digital meter does not jam. The digital meter does not give gifts. The digital meter is efficient and accurate and it has no soul. The street lost something when it lost the parking meter. It lost the last machine that could be beaten with a nickel and a prayer.