GuelphToday received the following letter disputing the notion that parking is a problem downtown.
First and foremost I want to thank all the staff for GuelphToday. I sincerely appreciate the daily news updates of our local community. However I do have one particular issue with the opinions of a your political writer, Adam Donaldson. Again just recently another write up regarding the downtown parking situation. I’m not objecting to his opinion because that is what freedom of speech is all about. My issue is that all we read about is the problems of downtown parking (according to who?) What about writing on a solution?
I’m relatively new to Guelph as I only moved here over four years ago from the GTA area. I love Guelph. Especially the downtown because that’s the area I live in along with many other newcomers. We usually try to walk downtown because we choose urban living over suburbia so we could be close to everything. I do have a car and yes we do use it when necessary because that is the convenience of having one. While the transit is wonderful, it is basically for people who do not have cars. That’s the reality of how we live. As for the parking issue, my observation is that I have not seen this as a huge issue on visiting downtown during these past four years. We have a very large parking garage located by the city hall which is mostly empty.
Please, let’s get some other opinions on this topic that may have a more positive spin on a problem that is a much larger issue. For example the revitalization of the downtown business area, the homeless situation, etc. Perhaps we need to look more carefully at where and how we spend the taxpayer money. Do we really need a new library downtown?
The bottom line on this parking issue is that we have heard this over and over again with the same opinions or concern. If this truly is an issue, which I doubt, then come up with some suggestions that become a solution.
Lastly, I want to thank our local politicians for trying to manage an ongoing growing city and particular the downtown community. Let’s work together with some solutions that will make our downtown area more attractive. Honestly, there is so much potential here in Guelph.
Rene Luehof
Guelph
