Letter on Extended Parking Hours in Alexandria

From twitter follower @hubofthewheel

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

Alexandria City is at it again.  On July 1, all parking meters in Carlyle and Old Town will be enforced until 9 p.m. and payment will be required for parking in Carlyle on Saturdays. Alexandria wants to extend the hours and coverage of their parking meters to encourage turnover and promote public transport. Except that you can't feed your meter and no one wants to pay for parking after 6:00 p.m.!!

Alexandria only wants more tax revenue for their wasteful programs and mismanagement of the budget. Extending parking meters to 9:00 p.m. will discourage people from shopping and dining in Old Town. 

Please send an e-mail voicing your strong opposition to extending parking meters to 9:00 p.m. in Old Town. I have attached a sample letter below and as a Word Document Attachment with the addresses of Alexandria City Council members and the mayor, Civic Association leaders, Chamber of Commerce, City employees, and Transportation Committee members. If you have time, please send e-mail individually. Thank you in advance! Please forward this e-mail to anyone who lives or visits Alexandria!

Sincerely, 

 @hubofthewheel

Members of City Council:  

CityCouncil@alexandriava.gov

William.Euille@alexandriava.gov; @BillEuille John.taylor.chapman@alexandriava.gov; @j_chapman99 Timothy.lovain@alexandriava.gov;
Redella.Pepper@alexandriava.gov ;
Paul.Smedberg@alexandriava.gov; @Paul_Smedberg Justin.wilson@alexandriava.gov ; @justindotnet   

Transportation and Parking Board: 

Members

• Thomas "Jay" Johnson, Jr., Chairman - 
• Gregory Cota, Vice Chairman
• William Schuyler
• Mary White
• James Lewis   Communications_director@vayd.org 
• Elizabeth Jones 
• Kevin Beekman - kevin.beekman@arlandria.org

Bob Garbacz, city staff member  Bob.Garbacz@alexandriava.gov

Kevin Posey, former board member kposey12@comcast.net @kevinhposey

City Manager: 

Rashad Young  Rashad.Young@alexandriava.gov

Other Local contacts: 

@OTBoutiques
@AlexandriaVA
@Alexlifestyle
@Alexandriavagov
@alexandriavamom
@SocialinAlex

Media:

@Alextimesnews
@derricktperkins
@redbricktown
@psullivan1
@Adamtuss
@david_culver 

SAMPLE LETTER TO ALEXANDRIA MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL, TRANSPORTATION MEMBERS:

Dear Mayor Euille:

I am writing you to express my disappointment and frustration with Alexandria’s decision to extend the enforcement of parking meters in Old Town to 9:00 p.m. nightly.  I have been a city resident for 39 years. [[If applicable, insert:  I have also been a homeowner/business owner for XX years.]] I enjoy dining and shopping in Old Town. My favorite restaurant is Tavernou Cretekou, bar is Daniel O’Connell’s, and ice cream place is Killer ESP. [[Please tailor to your OT favorites.]] The new and unnecessary regulations will make it difficult for me to visit these fine places in Alexandria if the meter hours are extended to 9:00 p.m. I would the city to reverse the decision to extend meter hours to 9:00 p.m.

Extending parking meters to 9:00 p.m. will discourage people from shopping and dining. When the parking hours were extended until 7:00 p.m., it became difficult and expensive to pay for parking in Old Town. Especially since, the city does not permit parkers to ‘feed their meters.’ With the new regulation, it will be impossible to enjoy a meal, watch a movie, and get an ice cream under two hours if the parking meters’ hours are extended to 9:00 p.m.

Further, public transportation is not feasible for the city’s residents and visitors. For example, I do not live near adequate public transportation. Like many others, I cannot take the bus to King St. Metro station on weeknights or weekends. Additionally, King St. Metro has very limited public parking. Thus, the vast majority of people who live in Alexandria or visit Old Town do not have access to the Old Town Trolley. Therefore, the city’s plan to promote parking turnover is faulty.

I would also like to know where the extra revenue from the parking meters is going. Will it fund another city spendthrift project, such as, the new T.C. Williams High School, new police headquarters, and unused bike lanes on King St.? Or will the money go towards more useful projects including repairing our roads, timing stoplights to alleviate traffic, or building public parking lots in high-density areas such as Old Town?

As a result of the City’s irresponsible move to raise taxes again, I will not patronize Old Town businesses. The extension of parking meters’ hours until 9:00 p.m. hurts residents, tourists, and business owners. Old Town has always had high turnover of business, mostly due to Alexandria’s high taxes and practices that discourages people to visit the city. After July 1, I will dine and shop in the neighborhoods that do not charge for parking after 7:00 p.m.including:  Clarendon, Ballston, Courthouse, Roslyn, Crystal City, Shirlington, and Pentagon City of Arlington; Falls Church; Bethesda; and Silver Spring. Even the tax hungry and delinquent jurisdiction of D.C. allows parking in some popular neighborhoods after 6:00 p.m. for free!

I strongly encourage the City Council to reverse the decision to extend parking meters until 9:00 p.m. in Old Town including Carlyle. There is no need to increase parking fees in Alexandria. We have been in a worldwide recession and high unemployment since 2008. The businesses in Old Town historically have an unusually high turnover and failure rate. The city’s thoughtless policy of raising taxes will discourage and prevent people from spending time and money in Alexandria. Do not extend parking fees to 9:00 pm!

Thank you for your consideration,