SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — Springfield has new parking meters, but there are no plans to charge residents for downtown parking.
Instead, the red parking meters are an effort to raise money to help the homeless.
City Councilor Terri Leezer is the driving force behind the fundraising effort that got under way Friday.
Leezer says a 50-cent donation to one of the meters buys a homeless person a shower, $1 provides a hot meal, $3 means a bus pass and a $5 donation translates to a sleeping bag purchase.
A similar effort was made in Denver. A homelessness commission report in that city found that in the first 18 months the meter project led to a 92 percent reduction in the number of panhandlers in the downtown improvement district.
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