03/16/2025
Imagine being the city council members who are supposed represent the interests of their constituents and the community as a whole voting this in. Furthermore there was not a single member who spoke with any of the
businesses downtown before deciding this vote.
Imagine being a property owner downtown but not being able to vote for elected officials including city council, or any other voting matter because we don’t “live” there but we pay higher property taxes and assessments than those who live in the city.
Imagine being a small business owner who had the worse year in business in 2024 and is still struggling, only to have another major obstacle to get customers in the door.
Imagine being the mayor allowing this to happen while never stepping foot in any of the businesses this will affect.
Imagine being the city manager holding community forums and getting nothing but push back from the community and small businesses but still pushing this agenda through.
Imagine being a customer of these businesses who already is going above and beyond to take the time to come downtown because they realize the importance and value of shopping local. Only to make it even more difficult & frustrating for them.
Imagine trying to be like the other cities to implement parking meters only to realize that your city isn’t welcoming in the least bit with boarded up bathrooms, broken fire pits, speaker systems that don’t function and a large homeless population.
Imagine being the Downtown Development Authority who made sure there was no communication with the downtown businesses that this was set to take place so that we could represent ourselves at the city council meeting.
New $2 hourly rate, payment options and enforcement times were approved as the city moves away from the "meterless" parking system.