Work/city issue
Sep. 24th, 2015 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elizabeth_mnThe fabric store where I work, Treadle Yard Goods, is on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, a local fashionable shopping street that has emphasized small independent businesses for the last several decades.
There is currently a controversial proposal about parking meters on Grand that you can read about here.
I think meters are a terrible idea. People already complain constantly about parking being "a nightmare" on Grand, and I often have customers tell me they circled the block three times, or that the only reason they bothered stopping was they happened to see a spot out front. Then they go on to spend $100.
Our classes usually run about 3 hours. If students have to pay for parking too I think we will get fewer signups!
People might be fine paying meters for necessary things like doctors offices and banks, or even restaurants, but for the majority of non-essential businesses (as much as I hate to think of fabric as non-essential!) no way.
The only thing meters will do is divert shoppers away from independent, locally owned businesses and make them decide to go to the Mall of America instead.
I understand that the city needs money and I am totally willing to pay my taxes and support services, but there are better ways!
There is currently a controversial proposal about parking meters on Grand that you can read about here.
I think meters are a terrible idea. People already complain constantly about parking being "a nightmare" on Grand, and I often have customers tell me they circled the block three times, or that the only reason they bothered stopping was they happened to see a spot out front. Then they go on to spend $100.
Our classes usually run about 3 hours. If students have to pay for parking too I think we will get fewer signups!
People might be fine paying meters for necessary things like doctors offices and banks, or even restaurants, but for the majority of non-essential businesses (as much as I hate to think of fabric as non-essential!) no way.
The only thing meters will do is divert shoppers away from independent, locally owned businesses and make them decide to go to the Mall of America instead.
I understand that the city needs money and I am totally willing to pay my taxes and support services, but there are better ways!
