posted October 9, 2008
My daughter is a freshman at UTC. It is no secret that the school has a lack of parking.
On Wednesdays I drop my daughter off for her class and wait on her, as she has one class in the morning. I park on Fifth street and use the parking meter provided.
Over the last week the rates of the parking meters has tripled. This has caught everyone by surprise. I noticed it when I put two quarters in the meter, but not everyone has, and a lot of students have been getting parking tickets because they did not know of the rate change.
Is this Chattanooga's way of making extra revenue - taking advantage of financially challenged college students. I find this despicable and very underhanded.
The city should have notified the University.
Dale R. Souders
U.S. Navy, Ret.
North Chattanooga
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The city is not trying to take advantage of anyone and is definitely not making any underhanded moves with the parking rates. The parking rate increase has been very well publicized in local media for weeks and months including this wonderful, informative site.
CARTA has been dealing with rising fuel costs and budgeting even considering shutting down the electric shuttle service downtown. Unfortunately, the cost of doing business has increased for everyone. These costs will always be ultimately passed down to the consumer.
As far as the students being surprised, this is just another great example of why young people need to engage their community and get involved. Maybe this will be the catalyst for some of these young people to realize how government decisions actually have an effect on them individually.
Jeremy Weldon
North Chattanooga
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Like the photo stop lights and speed checks on the S-curves in North Chattanooga, increasing the parking meter rates is another reason not to go downtown. Chattanooga is a small city with little to draw people downtown anyway. This is another reason to stay in the suburbs and spend money there.
To have people who drive their own cars support CARTA through receipts from parking meters on the streets is not justifiable anyway. Taxpayers already subsidize CARTA to an unreasonable extent.
I suppose the city feels that it can raise its rates to park on the street because Republic Parking Systems charges so much to park in its lots. I loathe both Republic for being so greedy and the city for social engineering.
Jim Nichols
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The parking meters are not in place to take money from the college students. They are in place to help fund services that some of us may or may not elect to use. This is an alternative to raising taxes for everyone in the city to fund public transportation or Republic maintenance.
I do, however, believe that handicap parking should be an exception and would like to see donated free parking spots for the handicapped. If you don’t agree with the parking meters, there are other places to park that are free as well (They may require a bit more exercise).
We have a beautiful downtown that requires funding for everything from lawn maintenance at Coolidge Park to running street sweepers for the streets of downtown. The cost of living in Chattanooga is relatively low compared to the rest of the nation, and it has more character than most other cities in the nation.
Choosing to park downtown is an option, and one that requires a payment. Nothing will ever change that, and in my opinion it’s a small price to pay for the enjoyment of beautiful downtown Chattanooga.
Lee Gilliam
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In response to Mr. Gilliam’s comment, my wife was handicapped for several years before she passed away in 2001. Unless the laws have changed, people who display a handicapped placard or license plate are not required to pay to park at a meter in Chattanooga. Does anyone know if it is different now?
Most people who see the handicapped placard hanging from the rear view mirror do not know that it is illegal to drive with it in place. You are supposed to remove it from the mirror when driving. No one does though.
F. Roper
Chattanooga
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