Dear Editor,
I agree that parking meters are a necessary evil in that they allow for persons to have access to structured parking within the city as against the type of parking that results now, where business persons park the whole day for free.
It is my opinion though, that the parking meter company (Smart City Solutions) should have been made to make an investment in the City of Georgetown, rather than just set up shop with an investment only in parking meters. The councillors should have negotiated for the company to properly pave the parking spaces along the road shoulder where they set up their machines. This would have been a worthwhile investment in the city, that would have allowed them to collect a toll. Apart from what they contributed with their machine, there was nothing.
The spaces, apart from those within central Georgetown, are soggy, muddy and unfit. Take a walk along Church Street, Carmichael Street and Camp Street within North Cummingsburg ward. What are we the citizens paying to park for when we are asked to park in craters and pools?
The councillors in their negotiations should make demands for an investment that will benefit the city now. Let the citizens see what we are paying for in advance, not the other way around. The company should invest and then get paid, not get paid to invest.
The fees should be lowered to about $25 per hour for the first year, to allow citizens to get accustomed to the parking requirements, then gradually increased over five years to $50 per hour. A large percentage of the parking populace are public servants like myself, for whom parking fees are an added burden, considering our meagre salaries.
Also there should be a different rate for public servants, maybe $300 per day to park, if they must pay to park. But the business persons and shoppers are the ones who should be made to pay.
This is a long-term contract, and we the citizens should benefit as much as the company.
I am positive that the sum suggested, even though it appears low, would result in a handsome profit in the years ahead.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
