It's time for fire hydrants you can park in front of.

My street in Boston just recently upgraded to all new parking meters that take credit cards as well as quarters.  While they are now clearly easier for people to use, I assume the city did it because it will increase revenue; the meters automatically charge your card the two hour maximum unless you make an effort to change the amount.

Could you park in front of this?

But in addition to these new meters, I think it's also time for state of the art high tech fire hydrants.  Shouldn't we in 2012 have fire hydrants that are somehow capable of still functioning even when a car is parked in front of them?  How often are you looking for a parking spot, then become temporarily excited because you think you see one, only to find out the space is just a tease because of a fire hydrant?  If all of these "non spots" became spots with meters, I bet my fancy new hydrants would pay for themselves in no time.

Now I'm not sure exactly how they would work.  I assume they would have to be taller.  Maybe have the opening on the top instead of the side.  Maybe fire trucks would also come equipped with a special device that would reach over a car in order to attach the hose to the hydrants.  Regardless of what the answer is, I'm sure the technology is out there.  

UPDATE:  Ok, this is weird.  Literally as I was writing this post it came to my attention that the "Great Boston Fire" was 140 years ago today, November 9th, 1872.  Over 65 acres of the city and 776 buildings were destroyed.  Wow.

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