I’m waiting for it.

Amarillo City Council members have begun talking openly about installing parking meters downtown. It’s a plan to provide a comprehensive parking plan for when the downtown district is bustling with activity once again. I am confident that day will arrive … although it’s estimated time of arrival is a seriously open question.

Parking meters? In conjunction with the parking garage the city plans to erect?

Well, here is what I anticipate — maybe. I anticipate the few and the loud who’ve griped about the red-light cameras being nothing more than a money-making scam for the city are going to yammer even more loudly about the installation of parking meters.

Is that possible? Well, in this day and time — and in the climate involving some of the municipal malcontents scattered around the city, just about anything is possible.

I have no particular gripe against parking meters. They do raise significant revenue for cities that deploy them. I would recommend the city dedicate whatever money it doesn’t pay the vendors to downtown revitalization, which I figure is going to be an on-going process.

One key element the city will have to develop is a pricing structure that doesn’t make parking on the street in front of your favorite watering hole or restaurant cost-prohibitive. Amarillo has plenty of models to follow on that one.

I don’t know yet where this discussion will go.

City Hall perhaps should get ready for the gripes that will come its way. The malcontents are out there and they’re likely just now clearing their throats.