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You gotta keep an eye on webcams and vagrant parking pluggers

While watching KOB-TV Albuquerque morning news, I saw a live view of the intersection of Main Avenue and Seventh Street, with the Strater Hotel on the right and Karyn Gabaldon’s gallery on the left. But there was no news crew there. I remember years ago a report about a camera at Eighth and Main watching over us. Who monitors these cameras? Do these images go to the police station, the multimodal center, CDOT or where? How does an Albuquerque TV station access those images? Can I view them on my computer? – Charlie

Cameras are everywhere, and “they” are watching you all the time.

By “they,” we mean the CIA, the FBI, Chinese cyber-hackers, Vladimir Putin’s chief-of-staff, NORAD, the International Monetary Fund, Dick Cheney, a United Nations Agenda 21 task force and Friends of the Durango Public Library.

The only way to stymie cyber-snooping is to cover everything with aluminum foil and never leave your house.

In the meantime, the webcam at the corner of Seventh Street and Main Avenue will continue to stream at www.downtowndurangocam.com.

The cam is the hobby of Bruce Kuhn and his company, Big Red Sled Media LLC. Bruce set up the webcam several years ago “because it was cool,” he said. Nothing more.

“People love watching it,” Bruce said.

Some people would love it more if the camera did more than stream.

Police, for example, have called to see if there was recorded footage of nocturnal interlopers trespassing on the Stillwell Building’s rooftop hot tub.

If you want to keep an eye on things, there are other webcams in addition to Bruce’s.

At gobrainstorm.net, you can watch the train depot and at the intersection of Eighth Street and Main. FLC has campus cams. Purgatory has mountain cams. And this newspaper aggregates a selection of CDOT’s regional webcams.

As for KOB-TV treating the downtowndurangocam.com cam as if it were an unpaid journalism intern, Bruce is OK with that. “I don’t have a problem as long as they give it a plug.”

Speaking of plugs, the downtown webcam has 1,500 Facebook fans and gets between 30,000 and 40,000 hits each month.

With Action Line’s endorsement today, that figure could potentially rise by several dozen!

Could you check out the latest downtown rumor about our creative vagrants? Apparently, some are hanging around out-of-state vehicles parked at meters that are about to expire. When time’s up, they plug the meter and wait for the owner. When the tourist returns, the vagrants inform the visitor that they “saved” them an expensive ticket and would appreciate a donation as a reward. Is this really happening? Sounds fishy. – Lovely Rita, Meter Maid

It’s sad but true. But you gotta give the flimflammers an A-plus for moxie. It also explains what happens to “spare change.”

Action Line verified this latest scam with two downtown merchants.

In both cases, the meter-pluggers informed the parker that local tickets are $30 and that “donating” a couple of bucks would mean they are still way ahead.

According to one merchant, who asked not to be named, the gullible tourist donated half the cost of the “$30 ticket.”

Local parking tickets are $12, by the way.

Action Line also confirmed the ticket “donation” rip-off with the city’s meter readers.

Because the con is well-known among parking patrollers, downtown merchants and now the public, this scam has probably run its course.

Regardless, if someone advises you that they fed your parking meter, thank them for their kindness. Offer to fully reimburse the dime or quarter. But no tipping.

The last thing we need is a perambulating plague of plucky parking pluggers.

Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if you explain the difference between webcam watching and voyeurism.



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