Downtown Tempe Authority

These parking meters in Tempe collect money for the homeless.

(Photo courtesy of Downtown Tempe Authority)

The city of Tempe has raised about $50,000 as part of a larger campaign that includes these meters.

On Wednesday, officials in Tucson will install 20 new parking meters downtown.

They’ll accept change or cards, but you won’t be ticketed for not feeding them. They accept donations for the city’s programs that help the homeless.

If this sounds familiar it might be because Maricopa County and Tempe have already installed donation meters. And we wanted to check in to see how that’s been going.

A spokesperson for Maricopa County said the nine meters in the downtown Phoenix area collect about $160 a month. They’ve raised a couple thousand dollars in one year.

The city of Tempe has raised about $50,000 as part of a larger campaign that includes their meters, and with us to talk more about that is Kate Borders, president of the Downtown Tempe Authority, a nonprofit that partners with Tempe on projects like this one.