We’ve had a bit of snow this year in C-Ville and the city likes to think it is doing a good job to help us citizens in this perfect town, but what are they doing to commuters? For some odd reason the city refuses to clear out the lanes where commuters park. They tell locals they can park in the parking ramps, and then bill them for it.
In this picture you can see the main road where hundreds of people park every single day. How many cars do you see? That’s right…none. Snow entirely covers ALL the parking for the downtown area.
Picture taken Tuesday evening…four days after our Friday storm.
On the weekend the city has been offering free parking in the ramps, but that always seems to end on Monday mornings. Apparently the city elders don’t care about this situation. They all have their parking spots in the ramps that the taxpayers pay for, and figure commuters will just park at Barrack’s Road Mall and spend 2 hours on a bus to get to their jobs downtown.
Several commuters told me that they have been talking with the city trying to get the free ramp times extended until the parking lanes are cleared. Apparently they don’t like that idea, since they don’t want the garage to become overly crowded (typically it is at 40% capacity during the day).
Others say that all the money they make during the day will be used to cover parking costs rather than feed their babies. They also can’t afford to pump any money into the local economy since they can’t buy food from local eateries.
Is this situation good for anyone? Local businesses are losing money, commuters are getting in extremely late which is destroying productivity, no one wants to shop on the mall, and the city is losing lots of money since police can’t write as many parking tickets.
Last night we had a dusting of snow. There are a few flakes out on the street and the city has declared a parking emergency so all streets are now a no parking zone, yet the ramps aren’t free. The economy will continue to crumble. There are rumors that this may be due to the tribal warfare that has started between the city and the surrounding county. C-Ville is trapped in enemy territory, and some think this might be a sneak attack at those that don’t live inside the sugar walls…but that story will be continued at a later time.
Village elders…listen to the public and make the parking ramps free until the streets are cleared. You can’t expect us to eat your tainted cake every single day (and babies don’t seem to like it either). And do you really want commuters to continue to crap when they see their daily parking options?
Update: Over the weekend the parking was free in the garages due to the 15 inch storm that started Friday. On Monday morning they began charging once again despite the fact that no streets had been cleared. On Tuesday at 1pm the parking ban (on streets which only have short term parking) started due to the storm of the day (a big 3 inches), and the garage became free again. On Wednesday at 2pm they started charging once again for the garage. As of Wednesday evening not a single parking spot on Garrett has been cleared. What are the chances the road will be cleared by tomorrow? Friday?
While you’re at it, you may as well demand that Cville taxpayers foot the bill for your gas and insurance too. I’ve heard these people have some deep pockets, and if they really want you to grace their presence they’ll clearly make sure you have the motor power to scoot on over.
Personally, I’d like the city to buy me a new Apple iPad. That will free up enough money for me to purchase the wares and meals from downtown merchants. If they don’t do this for me, I’ll boycott the city. All of it.
I have to agree with Scrooge… it’s totally unreasonable to expect that you actually get the services promised by the city, for which you pay taxes. How dare you ask them to actually do their job.
Obviously you can compare their paid job (keeping streets cleaned) with a frivolous thing like getting free iPads from the government. Maybe if you attach the iPad to a stick, you can use it as a shovel and clean the streets yourself, you damn complainer! Geezus… what do you think, politicians should actually deliver on their promises?? Listen, you’re just damn lucky they don’t lock you up for such un-American rhetoric!
ahh … well maybe this is a good time to reevaluate those entitlements … ahem, promises … you feel are owed to you. You may see Ipads a frivolous, but I see them as a beautiful piece of technology that could enhance productivity. I happen to see rolling oneself through space enclosed within 2000 lbs of steel and stashing it on public space as frivolous.
So, we both pay taxes. Why don’t you get the free storage and I get the free Ipad. That seems fair. Although you’re actually getting a bargain out of the deal.
By all means, I say do away with entitlements. Let’s get rid of the military and snow plows and school busses. It will build character when people have to be self-sufficient and start doing for themselves instead of asking for a handout with public transportation and state police. People can pool together on their own and build roads and dredge rivers. Maybe once we let all the people in prison out (why mollycoddle them!!) they can help us shovel the roads with those iPad shovels I thought up. I’m sure they will want to, once they see how better it is to give a third to half your income away and then NOT ask that it actually be spent on useful things. it’s much better for taxpayers to work hard, come home, then dig a ditch before dinner! Meanwhile, the taxes can go to paying rent on the vault they get stored in. Why, it would be plain silly to pay taxes for something and then expect the money to actually be spent on that. Plain silly!