Parking Pain: Meters Stolen in Waterbury

It was not enough to steal the money -- thieves in Waterbury decided to just take the entire parking meter.

Police in Waterbury are investigating a bold scheme -- the theft of $20,000 worth of downtown parking meters, according to the Republican American.

Investigators say someone made off with 20 parking meters in downtown Waterbury in February.  Police say it was a lot of work for a little payoff.  The thieves had to saw through steel poles before carting the meters off and then cracking them open for the loose change, reports the Republican American.

Police won't say exactly how much money the meters generally hold but they say it isn't much.

"They hold a small amount of change.. meters do not contain a lot of change," said Lt. Christopher Corbett, Waterbury police spokesman in the Republican American.

Most of the meters were stolen from the Silas Bronson Library parking lot.  The rest were taken from a municipal lot on West Main Street and street corners along Kendrick Avenue and Leavenworth Street, according to the Republican American.

Library Director Emmett McSweeney has worked 20 years in downtown Waterbury and he tells the Republican American, he was shocked.

"As the economy has gone further south, it seems to have accelerated the pace at which these things disappear," McSweeney said. "One or two would disappear in the course of a year, but this is unprecedented in my time downtown."

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