Letter: City's parking meters are not visitor friendly

Letter: City's parking meters are not visitor friendly



Capt. Norman Dean
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 12/16/07


Editor: Residents of St. Augustine please take note. On a November "road trip" to California and back my wife and I made a point to see as many "tourist sites" as we could, towns, parks, historic sites, etc. A common theme was observed; no parking meters.

Old towns had a mix of local and tourist traffic (look at license plates). The centers of most of these towns were alive with gift shops for the tourists and other stores for the locals.

St. Augustine city government and the St. George Street merchants seem to be doing their level best to make downtown St. Augustine as difficult as possible with their parking attitude. The Castillo de San Marcos staff as well. Why close that parking just because the fort is closed?

When we have out-of-town guests we give a driving tour and take our guests out of town for dining and suggest shopping elsewhere.

A great deal of tax money is spent to promote St. Augustine. For a large number of visitors it will be a one-time visit due to the attitude of the city.

The street entertainment is gone, street artists are gone, downtown is not fun. A T-shirt can be purchased at an outlet mall. These people will tell others back home. City officials are killing the Golden Goose.


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