its not the parking people. Its your city or township or whatever. Where I grew up it was never really a big deal, but then our downtown sorta hit a boom, lots of new condos and shops, first theatre in the area with stadium seating and stuff. Then the township extended the meters from 6pm-9pm, and they obv gave the meter people extra incentive, or higher quotas for writing tickets. Its just thier job, they arent the asshole, its the people who set the framework.