I simply cannot believe the story after story I read on our news feeds about merchants allowing their employees (and themselves) to park on street directly in front of their stores, thus taking parking from paying customers — read about Lodi, Calif, here.
There is a great structure a few blocks away, but the idiots cannot understand that if they park there, they increase the likelihood that folks will drive downtown and use their stores. They blame the parking police for not enforcing the short term turnover parking rules, instead of solving the problem themselves and NOT parking there.
IF you read between the lines, you will find that the first problem is that parking is free in Lodi — if they charged, they would have the money (and the clout) to enforce the parking, plus clean up the area, have security guards where needed, and solve their problems.
The woman who didn’t buy a $5 cup of coffee would certainly have done so, and paid a quarter to park, if she was given the opportunity.
Its how it works.
J
