I just had to write an open letter of congratulations to the Town of Bracebridge regarding the increase in the parking rates for downtown. Thank goodness that the members of the administration and finance committee did not listen to their CEO and Patty Thompson, both of whom reportedly suggested holding the line on parking fees.

The 50 per cent jump in fees makes perfect sense because as we all know, downtown is so hugely successful that something needs to be done to keep people from shopping in the downtown core.

It is the plazas that are really suffering. We need to pull together to help those businesses. Why, they even provide free parking and still not all of their spaces are full.

But, there is more that can be done to really assist the plazas. Let’s raise the price of downtown parking to $10 per hour. Not only will this help the plaza businesses, but think of all the revenue that it will generate for the town.

Here is an even better idea. We should install the same system that the city of London, England has initiated. Electronic cameras could monitor all main street traffic and send out bills just like the 407 ETR. This way we could get a fee from every vehicle that passes through our downtown area. Not only will this increase our revenue, it will cause people to avoid downtown altogether and instead go to the plazas that are so in need of extra shoppers.

Now, let me get serious for a moment. The reason we have parking meters is to stop people from monopolizing the scarce parking spaces downtown. It is not to raise revenue.

I suggest that parking downtown be made free. However, to avoid a fine one would need to enter any business and obtain a free token for the meter. This way the scant spaces are still controlled and a shopper is not penalized for shopping downtown instead of patronizing one of our plazas where the parking is abundant and free.

Owen Mellow

Bracebridge