Zoned Parking on Emerald a Bad Idea

Mr. Bigelow said Thursday that he was going to inform Wickey Cartwright, the Department of Public Works parking specialist and manager for Ward 6, of his intention to circulate a petition opposing zoned parking on Emerald Street. Maureen and Klaus Nielsen (1312 Emerald St. NE) submitted a petition in favor of zoned parking on the street on Nov. 25. Mr. Bigelow also spoke about the war in Iraq.

You think that zoned parking is not a good idea for Emerald Street. Why?

What is the purpose of it, if you can come down and park two hours anyway? Say, for instance, you have a patient in the hospital and she has nurses that come in there — it takes her three hours to take care of her, and she comes out and she has a $30 ticket. Doesn't make sense to me! Plus, you've got just one little block that sits between a zone. This is what bothers me about this.

We've got sick people there, people that need other than medical care — and they have nurses that come in and work with their patients. I don't know how long they stay, but if they have to stay in there two, three hours, and ticket-writers come through and give them a ticket, they've got to go downtown and pay a ticket. That doesn't make sense to me. Plus, it's only one block. One little short block — 13th to 14th Street. It doesn't make any sense. If they can take it off E Street, from 13th to 14th, why not from 13th to 14th on Emerald?

I've been here 32 years. And I'm not gonna give these people $15 for a permit — it's ridiculous. And that's every year. It's something wrong with the system. From 9 o'clock in the morning, basically, until 4 o'clock in the evening, you can go out there and park anywhere you want. Park anywhere you want to! After that, if you come back at 11 o'clock, you've got no right to have a little place to park, in front of your house. If you get in here at a certain time — after that, you park where you can. My protest is with Emerald Street. I'm very upset about it.

These are people who come around here with new ideas — I will negotiate with them on any ideas that are feasible. Why should I go down there and pay $15 a year more — the fees already went up on the damn driver's license, went up on the tags — why should I go give them extra dollars for where I live at, on my little old short street? §