But actually I think the contract accounts for this though, my memory is there's some kind of year-over-year value promise. (Plus inflation!) If true, moving the parking meters to a low demand location means the city would have to pay the difference in potential revenue, on top of the relocation costs.

It's the exact same thing as with scientists. Any time some lay person on HN or Reddit or wherever asks about some research or a new phenomenon or whatever (textbook example: dark matter) a question of the form "but have they considered <some very obvious idea>?" the answer is "yes, they have because that's their job and they're not stupid!"