As a participant of the Battery Park Residents Concern's Committee, we express our appreciation to David Forbes for meeting with us. His Sept. 22 article [”The Placard Stops Here,” Xpress] focused on our concerns, along with the complaints from merchants, about disabled residents with handicapped placards, parking in metered parking spaces.
I stated in the article, the disabled community, in general, have difficulty with shopping downtown. During the Aug. 20 meeting, held by the Mayor's Committee for Citizens with Disabilities, testimony was given by disabled persons. Their complaints not only focused on the lack of handicapped parking, but trying to put quarters in the meters and/or the location of the parking meters.
Also discussed was the encroachment on public sidewalks by restaurants with outdoor seating, more noticeable around the Grove Arcade. The disabled with motorized scooters are often limited by a narrow passageway, particularly during heavy foot traffic.
Not discussed by Mr. Minicozzi, in this same article, are the employees who work downtown and park in metered spaces. Although they put quarters in the meters, aren't they taking up spaces that could be available for the tourists and/or those who live in the suburbs?
Wake up, Asheville City Council! There are two low-income senior complexes in the heart of downtown with residents who are living longer, may be disabled and exercise their independence via automobiles, but have no affordable place to park.
Do they not have human rights?
— Ande Fulford
Asheville
who: Marni Nixon
what: “The Voice of Hollywood” cabaret show and benefit for the Asheville Lyric Opera
where: Diana Wortham Theatre
when: Sunday, Aug. 29 (3 p.m. $35/$40/$50. Purchase tickets at 257-4530. www.ashevillelyric.org or 236-0670)
Since when is access to free parking a “human right”?
Cry me a river….if you were poor, you wouldn’t even have a car. But you do. And it has costs. Parking in downtown is one of them.