From the Monterey County Herald:
In Pacific Grove, parking meters don’t grant those magical few minutes on someone else’s dime. Each time a car pulls away from a space, the meter automatically resets to zero.
And in other places where short-term parking is free, rubbing the meter maid’s chalk mark off your tires won’t save you a ticket, either: Parking officials from Monterey to Chicago drive mini-carts outfitted with Global Positioning Satellite-enabled cameras that can scan your license plate, know where you’ve parked and sense when you’ve moved the car.
This is the brave new world of advanced parking technology, where meters are triggered by remote sensors, customers can pay for street time by cell phone and solar-powered vending machines create customized parking plans for every motorist.