Recycled parking meters to help homeless

Nobody likes feeding parking meters in downtown Orlando, but one city agency is willing to bet about $10,000 of your tax money that you will willingly feed a new kind of meter designed to help the homeless.

Downtown Development Board Executive Director, Thomas Chatmon came up with the idea, although he says other cities already do it.

Chatmon says, "Denver has 'em. Atlanta has 'em. Laguna Beach has 'em. Las Vegas has them. Many other cities have them."

If city council approves the plan, 15 old parking meters will be recycled, repainted and re-purposed for the program. They will be placed near the city's designated panhandling zones.

"We can site them so they'll be in areas that are well lit here many pedestrians will frequent. It's safe. It's consistent. It's 24/7," says Chatmon.

You'll be able to put change into the "donation meters" and then the money will be given to a charity. Chatmon would not tell FOX 35 the name of the charity, but says it's one who's goal is to "eradicate homelessness."

The program is supposed to cost just under $10,000. Right now it's just a proposal. Chatmon hopes to put it before city council in October.