Why would you need to go through all this rigamarole? Tear off the receipt part (it's perforated) and retain it. I always do that even though I am parking a closed car.

Sure cure is to stay out of downtown Portland.

I agree with Abe... simply boycotting downtown works best for me!

....and how much are they paying for advertisement in order to get more people to go downtown?

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/08/downtown_portland_drivers_fuel.html

So they can really park a motorcycle in a garage for $30/mo? But its $180 for a car?

Why not just have a few hoops attached to the parking meters so the bikers can jump through those too?
The point is you'll get a ticket and then have to spend hours trying to get it annulled with your little cellphone picture and Harley Novelette.
After my disastrous injustice at a meter by the Rose Garden where the information on the meter was wrong, I took a camera and got it all on video.
I was hoping the clerk would have the power to override the ticket since it was so friggin' obvious what had happened, but she told me I would have to spend a couple of hours in traffic court. So I decided to pay.
I also decided to bring it up every now and then from now 'til eternity.
By the way, I was only there for a fundraiser for the Portland Schools Foundation so while I was helping the kids, the city was hurting me.
And I think we all know the children are our future.

Sell quarter-space permits, third-space permits, and half-space permits. Otherwise let cars and bicycles get a space permit too.

That's 'cause 4 motor bikes fit in one car space.

I just ride my Harley downtown to set off car alarms, I never park or pose.

There is no tear-off receipt anymore on most meters, and they are being totally eliminated as we speak. In fact, there's not even any adhesive on the new ones, because the coddled cagers complained that it left little unseemly marks on their perty windows. Boo, hoo, hoo...

If it's not a bicycle or mass transit, the city doesn't want the vehicle coming downtown.

In fact, there's not even any adhesive on the new ones, because the coddled cagers complained that it left little unseemly marks on their perty windows.

Oh, I bet the real reason is because people leave there leftover time for others, which is illegal. So the city is changing them to make it harder to do that.

oops, "their" leftover time...

ds is absolutely right. A motorcycle, moped, scooter, what have you, is still considered a single occupancy vehicle.

The city has a number of motorcycle/scooter-only parking spaces scattered throughout the city that seems to convey a motorcycle-friendly city for parking. To the casual observer (such as myself) they appear to be free. Makes sense, right? Often the spaces are left-over curb space where a full parking spot wouldn't fit, so just make it an MC spot. The thing is they aren't free, and not even discounted from a normal parking spot. You pay full price for less space for the same amount of time. That's not even the worst of it; every bike must be paid for even if you're able to cram a few into one parking spot, MC-only or not. So why not buy yourself a little more space and just park in the center of a normal parking space?

This and the city's "gotcha" policy for meter receipts and parking fines have convinced me that it is rather hostile to motorcyclists. A few friends of mine have been in contact with the city parking division for the last few months to resolve the meter receipt problem and have been given conflicting advice for proving payment and avoiding parking fines with one city representative basically saying they could provide no guarantee that a paying motorcyclist could avoid being ticketed.

Well gee, time for bicylists to pay up since they use the streets too. As far as the leaving of unused time on the pay stations, why not? If you've got 30 mins. left and someone needs 15 mins. why should the city care if you gift your unused time. Krice.