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Group says goal is to have 3,000 petitions
Paid parking issue headed to the ballot?
Photo by Carlos Bustabad
Posted
Opponents of the city's plan to have paid parking in historic downtown indicated they have enough petition signatures to put the issue on the 2026 ballot for city voters to decide. The Supervisor of Elections said they have verified 1,237 petitions. Meanwhile, the city is working on a contract for a paid parking vendor and also making plans if the issue is put to a vote. -- Mike Lednovich, ObserverTV News
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DouglasM
Janet's folks (SOE) have already certified 1,237 signatures? That's great news! Keep going and get to as high as possible by the end of the year! Make it intuitively obvious to the most casual observer that this will easily pass if it goes to a ballot.
If I'm OneParking I'm thinking I need some penalties built in as insurance if I have to shutdown operations so soon after making the investment......which means more money wasted by the FBCC. It's not too late to change course.
The next 3 months will be interesting.
Friday, September 5, 2025 Report this
noelsmartin
I live in the city and I totally support paid parking. As a city resident, my taxes are much higher than non-city residents. Those taxes go towards making Fernandina Beach a place people want to visit. Those visitors need to pay their fair share to support the city.
We go downtown regularly and always have a hard time finding parking. If people were required to pay, cars would move along more quickly and not take up a space all day long.
I do support free parking on Sunday mornings to support the local churches and also some type of resident parking permit. Paid parking would also encourage local hotels to support bus or van service to shuttle visitors to the central business district.
The city could definitely use parking proceeds to make our city even more desirable (maybe develop the waterfront properly!!! Our best resource not being fully realized).
Noel Martin
Saturday, September 6, 2025 Report this