Amy Murray - Parking Lease is "Band-Aid"

From Amy Murray: Statement of Cincinnati City Council Candidate Amy Murray on Parking Issue

Cincinnati City Council candidate Amy Murray is concerned that Council is promoting a parking deal that is bad for residents, bad for businesses, and bad for our city.    Statement of Amy Murray:    "Once again, Council is making short-term, band-aid fixes to avoid addressing the real problem of a structurally imbalanced budget. I applaud the City for coordinating with the Port Authority in trying to manage parking lease issues. However, as I read this plan, I feel that we have gotten very far off track. First, the original purpose that Council stated for wanting to lease this asset was to fix the budget gap for the next two years. My concern still remains that this is a very short sighted fix that penalizes small businesses and the people of Cincinnati for a long-term problem that is Council's responsibility to solve. If Council cannot balance its budgets consistently, we will continually be struggling with these issues because we are spending more than we take in every year. We need to address this fundamental problem. Second, while I believe the development of downtown Cincinnati is a great catalyst for our City's growth, it should not come at the expense of other neighborhoods. Neighborhood businesses will undoubtedly suffer as parking meter rates rise and are enforced for longer hours. Downtown business will suffer as people realize it is easier to shop, eat and play in the suburbs - where parking is free. This plan doesn't seem to be about parking modernization nor about addressing the larger problem of rampant spending. It looks more like charging more people more money over more hours than before...plain and simple. There are too many questions about whether this will solve our real problem, and before getting small business and citizen input, many on Council want to commit us to 30 years of limited control and oversight of our parking assets. I urge Council to listen to citizens and take heed of the widespread concerns about this deal."