It seems like parking has dominated the conversation in Yakima ever since the idea of a downtown plaza was first suggested. So significant is the topic that the city is spending around $40,000 for an exhaustive study of downtown parking.  The concern is that Yakamanians won’t come downtown unless they can park within just a few yards of their ultimate destination. If they have to walk a couple of blocks they just won’t do it.

Perhaps the solution is a new parking app, called MonkeyParking. MonkeyParking lets drivers in San Francisco pay other drivers to leave a particular parking spot. The idea is that if you're running late for a meeting or lunch date and need a spot in front of your office or a restaurant, you can use the app to find someone who's sitting in a desired parking spot and is willing to give it up for a price.

Yahoo's The Car Connection says that MonkeyParking -- which is also available in Rome -- makes it easy to game the system, with concerns already raised about people purposefully parking in prime spots so they can get money from repeatedly moving their car. Sort of a cottage industry by parking in front of the cottage.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
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I have no problem walking a couple of blocks on most days, but I have to admit there would be times when I would be willing to slip the “monkey” a 10 spot for the prime spot. How about you?

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