Wow – Something is wrong in Newark

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Wow – Something is wrong in Newark

Something is not working in Newark Ohio. The small city near Columbus laid off its two parking enforcement officers earlier this year and now the merchants are complaining that there business is down. Read about it here.

The money quote is this one:

The city does not have parking meters, and downtown business owners have said that since the layoffs, they’ve seen more downtown employees and visitors parking on the square all day, taking spots away from customers.

Th Mayor says that the two officers wrote 2500 tickets last year amounting to much more than their salaries, but the magistrate reduced or voided so many that enforcement was costing more than it was generating.

The magistrate is on the defensive.

“If people come in and tell me they have a hardship, it is within my power to take that into account

He also added that most of the over 300 handicapped violations he reduced were actually handicapped persons who “forgot” their handicapped permits. Sigh…Maybe if someone in Ohio had a spine memories could be jogged.

Parking is “free” in downtown Newark. Most tickets are written for time violations. HMMMMM

How about this solution: Install parking meters and charge for parking. The money generated from the parking and the money generated from fines would more than pay for enforcement. Oh, wait. Then where would the store employees park.

One last thing – could the merchants enforce parking rules on their employees. If you are caught parking on the street around our store it proves you don’t give a damn about our customers and you will be fired. Seems reasonable to me. Of course, I think they should charge for parking, but what do I know?

JVH

Picture of John Van Horn

John Van Horn

One Response

  1. You would have to understand that there really isn’t a parking problem at all. There is a massive amount of free parking that is very close to any downtown store. People are just to lazy to walk.
    The parking enforcement was useless considering that there is no problem to begin with. There is a free parking garage and huge free parking lots. Newark, Ohio is one of the few cities that really doesn’t have a parking problem.
    The decline in business is due to the decline in the economy and an increase in homeless and mentally ill people roaming the streets begging for money. You can’t walk 20 feet without someone asking you for a dollar. With plenty of shopping and entertainment in close by shopping malls, the obsolete downtown suffers a common fate, but parking is the last reason that there is a hardship.

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