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Show I City Commission Votes Removal of Curb Meters i . ; : : . : : : PARKING RENT SLOT DEVICES ORDERED OUT Action on Motion by Mayor Clinches Controversy By AL FERGUSON i Removal of parking meters from Salt Lake City streets Was ordered Tuesday by city commissioners. With them went S75MJ ef the motoring public's nickels poured Into the curb device slota elnee i last August IS, when they went Into operation. Out of the remaining undistributed undistrib-uted portion of the parkins meter fund, kept separata from the city's general revenue funds, the city will receive $3.47. But, in addition to that meager sum, the city has one new motorcycle to show for the "noble i experiment" Immediate" removal of the meters me-ters was ordered by commissioners In regular eommlsslen ssssion which followed closely an executive meet-w meet-w of the committee of ths whole held in Mayor E. B. Erwin's office. Mayor's Metioa Mayor Erwin's motion, calling for ths unexpected actTon, read: T move that parking meters on ur Salt Lake City streets be removed re-moved and that the law department depart-ment be instructed to prepare the necessary papers to repeal the ordinance ordi-nance and cancel the contract with the Parkrite corporation (Houston, Texas) and to instruct ths corporation corpora-tion to take their meters from the streets immediately and place the streets in the same condition that they were prior to ths installation , of the meters." Commissioner P. H. Goggin voted against ths motion. "Well, wait, now, are we sure we are right on that action?" Commis- sioner Goggin asked, when ths mayor may-or called for a vote on his motion. "What can wa do with them? According to the legsl department we cannot scatter them around the . business district and keep them in service," said ths mayor in reply to the question. Favor Proposal . Ths discussion wss ended, and three other members of ths board voted to sustain ths msyor's motion, mo-tion, bringing to a head Mayor Erwin's Er-win's recommendation of several weeks ago that the entire business district be soned and metered or all meters be removed. Legal phases of the matter were explained to commissioners at the earlier executive aession. At that time, it was reported, Gerald Irvine, assistant city attorney, told commissioners commis-sioners that ths city's legal position In the case could not be sustained by "staggering" meters along any curb and allowing alternate free parking spacea with metered spaces If ths one-hour parking limit ordinance ordi-nance were to remain in effect The city might, it wss explained, designste certain frontage on any curb, reduce the parking limit time, for example, to SO minutes, and meter that particular area and probably prob-ably sustain, its position on the ground that the meter fee waa charged to offset expenss of increased in-creased regulation In those special sonee. New Law Re aired But, legal definitions of "discriminations" "discrim-inations" would likely apply In any other arrangement it waa said, unless un-less a special act of the legislature were adopted giving municipalities specific power to re-gulste traffic by (Continued on Pace Eleven) (Column Tort I CITY VOTES END OF MENTAL (Coctlnuad frost rase One) Installation of meters or other mechanical me-chanical devices. Removal of the meters will in no way obligate the city to pay the unpaid balance on purchase prices, It was said. And the meter fund, which now amounts to $2768.01, will be distributed by the city auditor and treasurer In accordance with the original installation agreement allowing the city IS per cent and the corporation 88 per cent of tlx meter "take." Attaches of the auditing department depart-ment explained, however, that thi meter company has not requested remittance of its share of the func for several weeks. That is the reasor why, when accounts are finally settled, set-tled, the company will receive thi major portion of the money on hand and the city only 13.47. The police traffic department and city engineering departments wil supervise removal of the meters, il was said. |