I got the following email:
I was wanting to know if there are other cities out there that allows "free parking" at metered spaces during the Christmas holidays. In my opinion, this is a time to really write parking tickets for "squatters". It has not been proven to me that allowing free parking for the month of December is going to increase shopping in a downtown business district. You are only allowing free parking for employees or business owners to park in front of their business and not allowing paying customers to patronize the businesses.
It was from the City Clerks office in Florence Alabama. This fellow understands the problem. "Free Parking" doesn’t help the problem, it exacerbates it. If the city wants to help the merchants, and the customers, it will ensure any way it can that there is plenty of parking for them. Making it "Free" only makes matters worse.
JVH
