Someone stole two unique parking meters this weekend and the person who installed them said he’d love to kill them with kindness.
Two “Kindness Meters” were stolen from the Agua Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad. The meters are repurposed parking meters. Any coins or credit card donations go directly to North County charities and nonprofits. There were eight scattered before the two were stolen this weekend. Solana Beach recently approved installing what would have been the ninth Kindness Meter.
“My heart sank,” said Carlton Lund, who helped invent the Kindness Meter.
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“Channel 10 did such a great job that we got not only great people but we got little turkeys,” said Lund.
Adding insult to injury, the thieves took a stool meant to help children make donations as well.
“They took the step stool where the kids took their little hands with their quarters and put it in,” said Lund. “Those were acts of kindness.”
Lund said the crooks didn’t get very much. Even though the meters are worth $1,000 each, they had very little inside of them. Lund said the meters were emptied last week.
Instead, Lund said he would forgive the thieves and even pay them to return the meters.
“Give me a phone number. I’ll send you a check.”
In the meantime, Lund said the owner of Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad volunteered to donate and install new security cameras at the Discovery Center at the Agua Hedionda Lagoon to watch over the meters once they were re-installed. Lund said he intends to secure them deep in concrete.
“I think I’d stack this up. I’ll make sure they can’t move that,” he said.
The stolen meters were reported to Carlsbad Police.
