Loading

Aggieville parking problems By Dawson Wagner

Riley Schubert; a part-time employee at Taco Lucha and Fat's Bar & Grill was forced to adjust her schedule due to Aggieville construction and the new parking regulations.

Riley started working at Taco Lucha two years ago, and with all the changes to Aggieville that she has seen; she says that the new parking laws that are making employees pay $25 a month for a parking pass is wrong.

"I think it's pretty messed up that just because I work in the Ville I have to pay for that. Employees should be exempt from that rule because there is limited parking. It would definitely affect me with my shifts, and the income I make would have to be put back into the parking costs that I have to get to my job for."

THE CITY & AGGIEVILLE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

The new parking garage has not only brought more stress for employees who can't afford a parking pass but it has also presented the City and Aggieville Business Association, President; Dennis Cook with a difficult conflict to address. Why should the employees have to pay?
The President of the ABA has said "the parking garage is the best place for employees to be so that customers can park as close as they can to the businesses"

EMPLOYEES FEELING "LEFT OUT OF THE LOOP"

As employees have adjusted to the changes in Aggieville; they increasingly have felt like they've been left out of the loop. It has put them in a position to believe that the only reason why the city would charge them for parking is because they only care about making money. Averie Thurston an employee of The Dusty Bookshelf had this to say about the parking garage pass.

"The city cares more about the money than the citizens. The other day I parked at City park and it was night, and I was kind of scared because of drunk college kids; whatever. That wouldn't be an issue if they just let us park in the garage" Averie Thurston (The Dusty Bookshelf employee)

THE PETITION

Employees like Averie shared how they signed the "Free Parking for Aggieville Employees" petition.

"As a college town, a lot of workers are college students having to pay for tuition, rent, etc. Many cannot afford to pay these monthly fees. This is both unreasonable and unfair, causing numerous complaints from employees already. In order to make this situation better, we ask for your support in asking the city of Manhattan to grant free parking for employees getting to their workplaces." (Quote from petition)

6,000+ SIGNATURES

Averie also shared that the city commission would be hosting a work session meeting on Tuesday, February 7th and employees of Aggieville were planning on attending to voice their concerns about the new parking pass.

THE CITY COMMISSION MEETING

Dozens of supporters for changing the cost of the parking passes showed up for the public comments section of the city commission meeting.

The first hour of the meeting was filled with comments made by dozens of residents, employees and former employees speaking up about the impact that the cost of the parking pass would have on them and the rest of the business district.

"The parking system that we have in place; that is how we pay for our parking; that's what they have in Washington D.C., that is the capital of the United States. This is not the capital of the United States. We need to scale it back and do something smarter for the economy"

Kara Authic

Final speaker during public comments

Want to hear more?

Beginning at 12 minutes and finishing at 59 minutes; listen to Manhattan residents share their stories about the impact the new parking laws are having on them.

THE RESPONSE BY CITY COMMISSIONERS

"I think we're gonna have to do something and chat about this some more. Six months of free parking for Aggieville employees or something. We've already got all of the equipment and people hired to enforce parking so we can't stop everything. But there ought to be some way to provide some relief; for some period of time; at least till we get North Manhattan open or something. We can't do anything tonight because it's not on the agenda and people haven't been noticed. So, we will see about talking shortly and if the majority of commissioners want to put it on an agenda we can do so."

Mark Hatesohl

Mayor of Manhattan

The next city commission work session is Friday, February 28th

The growing pains of Aggieville have only just begun. With new developments underway in other parts of the business district; it begs to question . . .

Who's going to pay for the cost of the next renovations in Aggieville?

Created By
Dawson Wagner
Appreciate