Letter: Lack of free parking keeps family from park

Letter: Lack of free parking keeps family from park



Cindy French
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 11/19/08


Editor: I agree with the merchants along St. George Street in their concerns about parking fees. My family used to love to walk in the Plaza de la Constitucion by the gazebo, walk down St. George Street, and stroll around the grounds of the Castillo de San Marcos whenever we had free time.

We used to enjoy July 4th fireworks, Columbus Day Hands on History, arts and crafts fairs, Nights of Lights, etc. Now, we rarely visit downtown because we know that we won't be able to find free parking.

The people of St. Augustine worked really hard to build Project Swing for everyone to bring their children to play in a safe playground for free. The parking lots around the area were either free or free after 5 p.m. Soon after the Swing project was built, the Ketterlinus Elementary School parking lots were blocked off. People could not park and walk to the park from there.

Then, the parking garage was built and people could not even park for free after 5 p.m. If we have to pay for parking, Swing Park is no longer free.

The people of St. Augustine are small-town people. We are the ones who pay taxes and work hard to make St. Augustine fun for everyone to visit. We're not high-income and, now that the economy has dropped, we are feeling it.

We ought to be able to park for free.

Cindy French

St. Augustine


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