WE WONDER where the Oakland City Council will find the $1 million to cover the budget hole created after the council was beaten into submission on its intention to increase parking fees, hours and fines.

We also wonder whether those who were so angrily protesting and threatening the council members over the policy are willing to offer any helpful suggestions.

A few of the more reasonable protesters actually have done just that. We would like to see more.

For the last three months, opponents of the new parking plans have been waging a fierce campaign to overturn the stricter parking regulations that went into effect July 1. And it worked.

Last week, the council voted 6-1 to roll back the parking meter hours from 8 p.m., to the original 6 p.m. Councilwoman Patricia Kernighan, who represents Grand-Lake and Chinatown, where the howls were loudest, said it was clear that the parking meter policies were unacceptable.

"People don't want to feel like we're balancing the budget on their backs, or that we're punishing them," she said. Only Nancy Nadel, who represents downtown and West Oakland, had the guts to vote no. Desley Brooks (Eastmont-Seminary) was conveniently absent.

Council members apparently had no such qualms about balancing the budget on the backs of senior citizens, libraries, parks or public employees who are being forced to take a 10 percent cut in salary and

As part of an effort to make a small dent in the city's $83-million budget, council members had voted to extend parking-meter enforcement hours from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. The hourly parking rate was increased from $1.50 to $2, parking fines were jacked up and meter enforcers began aggressive ticketing.

Merchants complained that the new parking policies were ruining their business.

They, along with irate residents, held rallies to force the city to take back the policy. They signed "Rescind or Recall" petitions. The owner of the Grand Lake Theatre used the famed marquee to call parking opponents to arms.

Some of the most irrational parking opponents still aren't satisfied. They're demanding — which is utterly absurd — that the council set parking rates at 50 cents per hour, end aggressive ticketing, forgive all tickets issued since July 1 and issue an apology for instituting the parking changes in the first place.

Of course, now that the council has reversed itself, there still remains that little matter of about $1 million that the city had hoped to shave from the deficit with the extended parking hours.

Four council members have said that they'll be able to make up about half of the money from new billboard agreements. We'll see about that.

Where the rest will come from is anyone's guess.