Downtown parking was already enough of a struggle, and now we're expected to pay?

Please sign this petition to demand that the city commission removes the paid parking signs, and restores the previous parking restrictions: Monday - Friday, 2 hour limit, 8 am - 5 pm.

As a downtown employee, I can say with confidence that forcing payment for all downtown parking will be detrimental first to business, and second, to our personal livelihoods. We've already lost business to the months of construction in the downtown area, and now, the second we should have been able to recover, we're losing even more because guests can't park nearby. Even on the first day of the paid parking, we had several people leave upon learning they would be ticketed for parking in a place that should be (and just days ago was!) perfectly legal.  

The only explanation for this change is greed. There was already plenty of paid parking and garages available to the city to gouge an income from citizens, in addition to the already excessively high tax rate we pay. To take over all of our street parking for the entire downtown area is absolutely disgusting. 

Now, since the paid parking has been implemented, I've been forced to choose between my safety and adding an extra expense to my work day, because of lopsided city restrictions. Now, the closest free parking to my place of work is about ten minute walk away, which is not exactly the safest thing for somebody to have to do alone late at night. For this reason, the others I've listed, and many more that remain unsaid, I refuse to accept paid parking becoming the norm in downtown Gainesville, and I urge others to do the same! We will not stand for this.