When the news about raising the parking rates on Manitoba Street surfaced I wrote a letter to your paper, but on the advice of my wife I didn’t send it.

Her opinion was that the idea was only a bad idea that would easily be defeated so I needn’t waste my time. Since the idea is still out there, may I suggest an alternative solution that may even encourage tourism. Why not change the meters to one cent an hour?

The initial shock to a visitor would most likely result in a positive anecdote of his or her holiday trip to Bracebridge. The best advertising is word of mouth. And what kind of message does this send?

You are a valued customer on our main street. Parking costs slightly more than the big-box stores outside the main core, but it’s our small way of trying to hold on to our identity as a beautiful town in a time when so many main streets have been boarded up all across North America. The “penny to park” is a reflection of the times when the main streets of our towns were the hub of our collective identities. Play it right and it would make the national news. Then calculate that in advertising dollars.

Lloyd Walton

Port Carling