I participated in a demonstration against a proposed rate hike in the price of natural gas today. UGI, the same company that is proposing to put a fracking gas pipeline through our farm, has asked the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission to allow it to raise the price of natural gas to its customers in Allentown and other Pennsylvania cities by over 19%.
The demonstration was successful in that we called attention to the price rise and managed to get TV coverage, but what I really want to write about is the parking meter guy and the policeman.
I have a hard time figuring out how to get a parking permit from the automatic dispenser Harrisburg uses instead of meters. I pressed a button, and then found I needed 24 quarters. At this point a parking meter guy came by and tried to help. He told me to try my debit card, but since I had already put in 9 quarters, it didn’t work, and I had no more quarters. He must have realized what a county bumpkin I was, so he put a blank ticket on the car so no one else would ticket me and told me not to worry.
Then, when we were standing in front of the building where the hearing was held, a Capitol cop pulled up. He was smiling and asked how many more demonstrators were coming. We told him we were it. We bantered with him about the rate increase, and he told us while he was in uniform he had no opinion on any issue. He was very polite, told us not to block the door, and drove off.
I really like Harrisburg.
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