Businesses start petition raising concerns about downtown parking
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Local businesses and their customers in downtown Augusta are demanding more help from the city when it comes to Broad Street construction.
A meeting was held Wednesday evening at Fat Man’s Cafe to address community concerns.
That’s because current plans call for parking to be stripped away and replaced with bike lanes, and businesses worry this will seriously hurt them.
Businesses started a petition raising their concerns about the parking plan, which currently has over 1,600 signatures.
“If they’re wanting to grow downtown, this may not be the way to do it,” said Sarah Wertz, community member.
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And 1600 other people all have similar thoughts, asking the same question.
”The little mom and pops like Luigi’s and sports center that have been around for years, for decades. What’s it going to do to their business?” said Wertz.
People are wondering if it could be harder to go to their favorite spots.
“If they do away with the storefront parking or business front parking, that walk could be a couple of blocks or more,” said Wertz. “For somebody that doesn’t walk well or for those that are in wheelchairs. That’s going to cut them going downtown.”
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It’s already hard to park, find a place to park, no matter your age.
“But a lot of times, it’s not a lot of parking spaces, you have to drive around. I don’t know if that expansion would be good or it would be bad,” said Tequila Greene. “It ain’t gonna never be nowhere to park if they don’t make the spaces like they need to expand it and not take away.”
John Ussery, with traffic engineering, says the revised presentation will address some of the misconceptions about how and why this configuration was chosen. It will also address any questions about the parking and the bike lanes.
But there are other factors. ”Safety is a big concern. I certainly won’t go downtown by myself, and if I have to park some distance from where I’m visiting,” said Wertz.
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Hoping for a better, safer and more accessible downtown. “I just don’t think that they’re taking into consideration the entire community that visits downtown, it’s not just young people, it’s a mix, young and old,” said Wertz.
We also heard from Mayor Garnet Johnson today about these concerns.
“The city of Augusta is committed to ing our downtown business owners, and ensuring that there is adequate parking,” said Johnson.
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