(Alexandria Times) — Some three months after parking rates rose to $1.75 an hour, local business owners will push to rollback fees until new multi-space meters arrive.
Danielle Romanetti opened Fibre Space — a store for knitting enthusiasts — on North Fayette Street more than a year ago, hoping to create a home for local yarn aficionados. Now she’s watching customers not willing to carry a pocketful of quarters or risk a parking ticket slip away.
“It’s supposed to be a community where they sit and hang out. There’s a public workstation to browse the Internet and look for ideas. This is not a ‘run in the door, run out’ store,” she said. “We are hearing every single day, ‘I have to go, my meter is running out.’ [Customers] are not spending as much money and they’re frustrated, because they can’t participate in the community here.”
