No More Meter Maids!
Perhaps the best editorial in months to appear in The Winchester Star ran this past Saturday.
The issue? Parking meters. Specifically, why they should be removed from historic downtown Winchester.
The Winchester Old Town Development Board would like the Winchester City Council to consider removing parking meters from the downtown area. IMHO, this is a great idea for several reasons.
First, downtown merchants face stiff competition from big box retailers where the parking is free. When was the last time you had to pay to park at Wal-Mart?
Second, if you do get a ticket for a parking violation the fine is only $6.00 or something like that……if you pay the fine within 24 hours. If you don’t pay it within 24 hours the fine goes up to $25 dollars. Violators are left with a “gotcha” feeling when they pick up their ticket and read the fine print because most people can’t make it to the police station within 24 hours to pay the fine. Getting a ticket also makes you think twice about going downtown to do business.
That can't be good for downtown merchants. Patrons are left saying, "why not go to a big box store? After all, the parking is free."
Sadly, as of this posting, no City Council member wants to push for removal of the meters. Hopefully, that will change.
posted by RBV @ 4:09 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I agree, especially in Winchester. I would frequent the down town area much more often if we had free parking. Downtown busineses in all cities, especially Winchester always complain about the big "chain" stores but do little about fixing one of the big problems which is parking. I would frequent the downtown area much more if I knew I did not need change every time I went down there, especially during lunch. There are several nice places to eat lunch down there but I usually pass because of the parking situation. In my opinion the Winchester City Council could care less about this issue.
At this point it seems the City Council could care less.
As The Star noted in it's editorial, a revenue loss would occur if parking meters were to be removed and that's what the council is afraid of - the robbing of Peter to pay parking, I mean Paul scenario.
Perhaps fee increases in other areas could help offset some of the loss or perhaps we could cut the budget! Now, there's an idea!
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