Word has it that people with smart-phones and special apps are trying to sell parking spaces they're about to vacate.
Ditto with tables in popular restaurants.
Last month, the City Attorney clamped down on an app called Monkey Parking, which did to San Franciscans what petulant monkeys do to irritating zoo patrons.
The service allowed drivers to auction off their public parking spots to the highest bidder — niftily selling that which she does not own.
It seems it'd be hard to prevent, though. Suppose I have a vehicle in a parking spot, and I offer not to "sell" it (since I can't, as I don't own it), but simply vacate it as soon as you show up. Can you really prevent people from paying others to relinquish spots in a line?
I don't know that I like it any more than the article writer, but I don't know that it can be dealt with, at least not in a way that isn't worse than the problem itself.
It seems it'd be hard to prevent, though. Suppose I have a vehicle in a parking spot, and I offer not to "sell" it (since I can't, as I don't own it), but simply vacate it as soon as you show up. Can you really prevent people from paying others to relinquish spots in a line?
Maybe so, since the item is question belongs to the municipality, not any twerp who shows up.
Couldn't you see this becoming some sort of dastardly pyramid scheme, or like flipping stocks?