This Just In: People Love Free Parking

Metered parking in downtown Mill Valley costs 75 cents an hour. And nearly 3,000 local residents have the on their car, which allows them to .

Because of that, we here at Mill Valley Patch weren't exactly sure what to expect when we bought 90 parking meters around the Friday afternoon for our Park on Patch event, a chance to both celebrate our upcoming 2nd anniversary and .

Would people appreciate the gesture or simply shrug and put their quarters back in their pockets?

The message was loud and clear: Never underestimate the power of free parking.

There were loads of thank yous. Plenty of surprise and curiosity. Even a few high fives. And in a beautiful display of utter disbelief, one guy looked at our Park on Patch bag over his meter, pulled it off, put two quarters in the meter and went on with his day.

We're thrilled at the response. We're grateful to the for its support and for letting us set up shop in front of their office. And we genuinely hope that the during Park on Patch drew some benefit from it.

Irrespective of the free parking, Park on Patch was a bit of a love fest for what Mill Valley Patch has accomplished in its nearly two years of existence. And while I'm humbled by the support and the much-appreciated praise we received on this day and many more before it, there's plenty of room for us to improve.

We want to be an indispensable resource for this engaged community. This site is yours, not ours. I want to know what we're not doing now that we should be doing. And if and how you can help make that happen.

So enough of the praise for now. Let us have it. What are we missing? What can we do more of to keep you engaged? Where can we get better? Tell us in the comments section below.

Thanks very much!