The City Council formally withdrew the parking meter proposal at the session held this morning. We will continue to monitor their budget hearings to ensure the Blue Ridge 2020 parking solutions remain the priority moving forward.
June 13, 2014
Final supporters
The Blue Ridge Business Association, is very concerned that the Blue Ridge City Council is researching the feasability and expense of installing parking meters on East Main and West Main Streets in Downtown Blue Ridge. The City Council believes this measure will raise funds for city improvements and be a solution for our current parking issues by forcing turnover of our limited parking spots. After speaking with business owners (both downtown and on adjacent streets), residents and area visitors, the consensus is that this is a terrible idea for our area. The research that the City Council is citing was done on much larger cities, not cozy, one-lane, small towns such as ours. The information they are giving the community does not take into account the ongoing expenses of meter maintenance or payroll for meter readers, management and accounting which we believe will leave negligible profits. The meters will sour our image to visitors, rush people out of downtown and discourage locals from shopping in this area during a time when the Business Association is working hard to find ways to bring locals back downtown.
A large study, called Blue Ridge 2020, was undertaken recently involving local businesses, residents and state experts. Easy, viable solutions were found to increase the number of parking spaces available to downtown rather than running off visitors so someone else can use an existing spot. So, there are solutions available to us that will not have the negative consequences that parking meters will bring.
We encourage all business owners, employees, City and County residents and visitors to our beautiful town to express their opinion about this issue by signing this petition. We will be presenting these signatures and comments to the City Council. Please do not sign the online petition if you have already signed a paper petition as we don't want duplicates.
The City Council will be holding a Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday June 3rd at 6pm in City Hall to hear feedback from everyone. Please mark this on your calendars and be there to stand up for your town!
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
June 2, 2014
Reached 100 supporters
May 30, 2014
May 28, 2014
We are reaching the hundred signature threshold and need sustained momentum before I deliver these results to the City Council. Please direct three people in your local network to this page to finalize this initial phase of our pressure campaign.
382 Comments
I think the Main St is still in much need of repair and to add parking meters will only clutter up the already busy downtown sidewalks. Lets strive to add charm and character not structures that impede any kind of traffic. Vehecular or Pedestrian...PLEASE !
Not a good revenue source in my opinion. Maybe these streets could be one hour parking to force turnover and prevent business owners a nd workers from monopolizing the prime parking. i would prefer an increase in sales tax to this option.
They put parking meters in the old city of st Augustine and it's a real pain! The limit is 2 hours so you have to either rush your shopping/eating time or spend all day running back to the meter every couple of hours. Please don't do this in BR!!
As a cabin owner in Cherry Log, we visit Blue Ridge often. I feel installation of the meters would be a huge mistake. The small town atmosphere is part of what draws the visitors who fuel this town. In my opinion, this could be a huge mistake for Blue Ridge.
I live in Fannin county and often stop at our local stores instead of going to a box store for purchases. Charging for parking will sway me away from continuing to so this. Our family frequents local restaurants and parking shouldn't be another expense.
This takes away from the small mountain town feel that makes this place so wonderful. If we wanted parking meters we would live in Atl or South Florida
I am not a merchant and do feel that this would be a detriment to downtown businesses.
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The City Council formally withdrew the parking meter proposal at the session held this morning. We will continue to monitor their budget hearings to ensure the Blue Ridge 2020 parking solutions remain the priority moving forward.
June 13, 2014
Final supporters
The Blue Ridge Business Association, is very concerned that the Blue Ridge City Council is researching the feasability and expense of installing parking meters on East Main and West Main Streets in Downtown Blue Ridge. The City Council believes this measure will raise funds for city improvements and be a solution for our current parking issues by forcing turnover of our limited parking spots. After speaking with business owners (both downtown and on adjacent streets), residents and area visitors, the consensus is that this is a terrible idea for our area. The research that the City Council is citing was done on much larger cities, not cozy, one-lane, small towns such as ours. The information they are giving the community does not take into account the ongoing expenses of meter maintenance or payroll for meter readers, management and accounting which we believe will leave negligible profits. The meters will sour our image to visitors, rush people out of downtown and discourage locals from shopping in this area during a time when the Business Association is working hard to find ways to bring locals back downtown.
A large study, called Blue Ridge 2020, was undertaken recently involving local businesses, residents and state experts. Easy, viable solutions were found to increase the number of parking spaces available to downtown rather than running off visitors so someone else can use an existing spot. So, there are solutions available to us that will not have the negative consequences that parking meters will bring.
We encourage all business owners, employees, City and County residents and visitors to our beautiful town to express their opinion about this issue by signing this petition. We will be presenting these signatures and comments to the City Council. Please do not sign the online petition if you have already signed a paper petition as we don't want duplicates.
The City Council will be holding a Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday June 3rd at 6pm in City Hall to hear feedback from everyone. Please mark this on your calendars and be there to stand up for your town!
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
June 2, 2014
Reached 100 supporters
May 30, 2014
May 28, 2014
We are reaching the hundred signature threshold and need sustained momentum before I deliver these results to the City Council. Please direct three people in your local network to this page to finalize this initial phase of our pressure campaign.
382 Comments
We live between Ellijay and Blue Ridge and enjoy coming into town, walking around, visiting restaurants and shopping. If we have to pay to park we will NOT be visiting near as often. This will kill the downtown businesses and is a very bad idea.
I think the Main St is still in much need of repair and to add parking meters will only clutter up the already busy downtown sidewalks. Lets strive to add charm and character not structures that impede any kind of traffic. Vehecular or Pedestrian...PLEASE !
Not a good revenue source in my opinion. Maybe these streets could be one hour parking to force turnover and prevent business owners a nd workers from monopolizing the prime parking. i would prefer an increase in sales tax to this option.
They put parking meters in the old city of st Augustine and it's a real pain! The limit is 2 hours so you have to either rush your shopping/eating time or spend all day running back to the meter every couple of hours. Please don't do this in BR!!
As a cabin owner in Cherry Log, we visit Blue Ridge often. I feel installation of the meters would be a huge mistake. The small town atmosphere is part of what draws the visitors who fuel this town. In my opinion, this could be a huge mistake for Blue Ridge.
I live in Fannin county and often stop at our local stores instead of going to a box store for purchases. Charging for parking will sway me away from continuing to so this. Our family frequents local restaurants and parking shouldn't be another expense.
This takes away from the small mountain town feel that makes this place so wonderful. If we wanted parking meters we would live in Atl or South Florida
I am not a merchant and do feel that this would be a detriment to downtown businesses.
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We live between Ellijay and Blue Ridge and enjoy coming into town, walking around, visiting restaurants and shopping. If we have to pay to park we will NOT be visiting near as often. This will kill the downtown businesses and is a very bad idea.