NO METERS ON WICKENDEN STREET

We the undersigned urge the City of Providence not to move forward with plans to install parking meters on Wickenden Street. This is not a downtown commercial district, it is a neighborhood, and meters will damage the unique charm and historic look and feel of Wickenden Street. Meters will also result in difficulties and inconveniences for residents and merchants alike; motorists will attempt to avoid meters by parking on residential side-streets, or they will avoid the area altogether, resulting in a drop in revenue for the small, independently-owned, brick and mortar businesses in the neighborhood. For Vartan Gregorian Elementary School families, pick up and drop off will be complicated and made more inconvenient with parking meters. The residents, small businesses and their customers, and parents who live and work in the Wickenden Street area should not have to suffer because The City of Providence cannot come up with more creative and effective ways of generating revenue, ways that do not harm a unique street and neighborhood. Putting meters on Wickenden Street does not solve a money problem for Providence, it simply puts the money problem on the backs of those who have mortgaged their futures for this struggling city, namely the residents and merchants who choose to live and do business here.

Please sign this petition against meters to help maintain the gritty charm of our street and our neighborhood, to preserve the quality of life for residents, and to retain the economic viability of Wickenden Street for small, independently-owned businesses.