Maybe I'm oblivious to them, but I don't think I've seen meters in Soho/Chinatown/LES and I definitely don't remember them in the East Village. Are they more in the Tribeca/Fidi area?
The classic meters at every spot are largely gone and have been replaced by block-based, app-enabled meters run by ParkNYC [https://www.parknycapp.com/].
$4.50 for 1 hr, $12 for 2 hr street parking.
You can continue to buy in one hour increments to save a little too if you remember to keep checking the app.`