Downtown parking

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: July 18, 2008

How about free parking?

To the editor:

Everyone wants to support downtown, and being a Danvillian, I feel the same way.

Last week, I went downtown to meet some friends for lunch. Since it was lunchtime, there were very few parking spaces located on Main Street. I saw one opening, however, the car parked behind was over the white line. There was room enough to park, but the car in front was also parked over the white line, since the previous driver had also had to park over the line.

My initial thought was if I get a ticket, all of us will get a ticket because someone before me had misjudged their parking angles.

Much to my chagrin, as I returned to my car, I noticed that the other two cars had already moved, leaving my car all alone and over the white line. In retrospect, I should have never parked in that spot, I should have just driven around until I found a good slot, because when I returned, I had received a parking ticket for parking over the white lines.

The ticket giver was up the street, and I proceeded to tell her my tale. Even though she might have been sympathetic, her hands were tied because of city hall. They would not allow any adjustments by her, but, I could go before some tribunal, fill out some forms, let them have their conference and if deemed fitting, I might be exonerated — or made to pay the fine.

The fine was only $10 and I had only five days in which to pay it. I had to get back to work, so I wrote a check, put on a stamp, sent in the payment and sat down to write my saga.

As I told the ticket giver, I had discovered downtown — and it cost me $10.

My gut feeling is that I will go back to the mall or another city restaurant, with my clients and friends, and leave downtown restaurants to fend for themselves.

As an aside, I visited many of the downtown shops later to find out that a lot of downtown merchants park on Main Street and every two hours go out and move their car to another location in order to miss the wrath of the downtown ticket giver. I hope this is not true, and that all of them were pulling my leg.

Surely if they all know, then the ticket giver must know, and if that is the accepted rule, then can we either make a rule for me as a first-time violator and give me my money back, or how about this unique idea ... free parking for everyone — even if you park over the white lines? This is not a new concept. Piedmont Mall has had this for years.

Hmmm, could there be some correlation between free parking and doing business, or taking up the parking spaces with merchants’ cars and giving tickets for going over the white lines — whether or not it was your fault?

I could be wrong … but I am betting that Coleman MarketPlace will do some business, unless they start giving out parking violations.

LARRY W. OLDHAM

Danville