Well of course they do. All they see is the local government coming in and causing problems. Read about it here.
Folks in Oxfordshire aren’t alone. People everywhere who live in neighborhoods don’t want the government coming in and putting in "parking schemes" and charging them to park in front of their own homes. However they do want a parking space available when they get home in the evening. Dare I say it, they want it both ways.
The 200 who stormed the local council meeting understand the problem. They probably don’t get very good service now with the existing program, and the city wants to start charging them to park in front of their homes. They don’t see how this money will make any difference.
The city, of course, simply says. "We have a program and it isn’t paying for itself so we need to collect some money. End of statement.
What would have happened if they city had said — Look — we want to do a good job controlling parking around your house so we are going to charge you 10 bucks a month (the original plan was for 5). However in addition to the great job we will do policing the parking and ensuring that folks from the local shopping center don’t park in front of your house, we will also take that money are replace the burned out street lights, repair the pot holes in the street, and plant grass in that mud pit the kids play in at the end of the culdesac. We were going to raise your property taxes to do that but now we are not going to have to do so. The money WILL NOT go into that black hole known as the general fund but will go directly back to your neighborhood.
My guess is that the plan would have been a lot more palatable and the number of complainers would have dropped from 200 to 5 (there are always some who will complain about anything.)
Of course, that plan is anathema to taxing authorities. The idea of money going directly to the folks who paid the taxes is simply "not on."
JVH
