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Do Not Put Parking Meters in Downtown Blue Ridge

382 Comments

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Laura Grifka
12 years ago

Downtown. Blue Ridge is so nice as it is - parking meters will take away the quaintness. The income generated will not exceed the damage. With the tourist dollars, the meters are not necessary.

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Anonymous
12 years ago

Please---no parking meters!

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Marge Vernay
12 years ago

It was a fight to bring in the alcohol to make the tourists want to come to Blue Ridge, so why would the City Council want to do something like this to upset those tourists and give a negative opinion of downtown Blue Ridge. I think it was sad that there was a charge to get into Arts in the Park now. All of this nickel and diming will only hurt the very industry that they were trying to develop. This Council has a lot of learning to do.

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Margie Kolesky
12 years ago

Please, lets keep downtown quant, a big help would be for store owners and employees to park in the public lot.

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Anonymous
12 years ago

Blue Ridge will lose business instead of attracting business. The public will stay away if they have to constantly worry about if their meter has expired. The restaurants will definitely lose business.

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John White
12 years ago

Too much government in our lives already. I wonder if the City Council has compared the sales tax revenue increase in the past nine years (the length of time I have owned a home here). Don't kill the "fatted calf". Makes me wonder what the underlying reason for this is. Politics seems to change people. Look at Washington. How about filling the holes in streets and sidewalks.

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Jo Kingsman
12 years ago

Please do not urbanize a great little town!!!

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Anne Joyner
12 years ago

If parking meters are installed, I do my shopping else where! There are plenty of small mountain towns nearby that would my business! Sorry to hear that this was even a thought!

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Anonymous
12 years ago

live simply!

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Greg Joyner
12 years ago

When I shop in downtown Blue Ridge, I go for the day and not just minutes. If I am constantly having to feed a parking meter, I'll shop less there and more in Ellijay!

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Vance McMillan
12 years ago Featured

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.

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Jim Linn
12 years ago

Second home in Morganton and frequent downtown visitor.

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Sandy Wright
12 years ago

This is a terrible idea! Visitors would have to keep running back to feed the meter. This would cause them to leave the shopping area quicker. That is exactly what I do when I get tired of worrying about meters in cities that I visit. The appeal of Blue Ridge is that you can meander through the shops and have a leisurely lunch without concern. Let's not take that away!

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Anonymous
12 years ago

Its hard enough to park at all, now charging to park? People will just stop coming. It's a tourist town, you don't charge tourists for visiting. You'll loss income overall.

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Anonymous
12 years ago

Definite bad idea! Would take away from the small town atmosphere!!!

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KATHLEEN HOLT
12 years ago

As a Leadership Fannin graduate and and active volunteer, meters are the complete opposite of the image and unique quality of this wonderful area..no meters! There are better options.

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janet mcmillan
12 years ago

Please do not pursue the proposal to install parking meters. It would introduce a gritty, unpleasant experience to the mellow, decidedly "ungritty" vibe of Blue Ridge. I have noticed several business owners whose cars occupy prime parking spaces all day, every day. Perhaps business owners and employees would consider parking further away thus opening up more parking for visitors.

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Beverly Armento
12 years ago

Any added revenue to the city will be eaten up with maintenance and policing of the parking

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Mark Pannell
12 years ago

I lived in a town of 30,000 that had parking meter installed. It hurt downtown businesses. When the big mall opened outside of town, it combined with the meters, killed downtown. It was a virtual ghost town. But the city council got smart. They made improvements to the downtown area, REMOVED the meters and built three large parking garages. And there is no charge to park in those garages. All this was paid for with bonds, donations and a small sales tax increase. It revitalized downtown. Today that town, Naperville, Illinois, has a booming downtown. It attracts visitors from miles around, including Chicago, because of the downtown shopping and dining. My former small town home is now nationally ranked as one of the best places to raise a family. I believe it all started back in the early 1980's when those parking meters were uprooted. By the way, a decade after their removal I purchased one of those old parking meters at a fundraiser. I have it in my man cave to this day.

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Sherry Petraroli
12 years ago

Bad idea