Downtown Ypsilanti businesses need to put customers first
Let’s say that you have a small business in downtown Ypsilanti on Michigan Avenue. The city has allowed 2-hour free parking on the avenue for customers to shop. Here's my question: Do you and/or your employees take those spaces so you don't have to pay for parking or have to walk a few hundred feet to get to work?
Think about it for a minute ... NO, NO, and NO!!!! Don't you want your customers to have easy access to your store? Think about it for a minute ... YES, YES, and YES!!!! That's what I thought, too. But guess what folks? I was wrong.
There are business owners and their employees that are doing just that. Even to the point of moving their vehicles back and forth to avoid getting tickets. Is it just me? Or is this as they say, " tripping over a dollar to pick-up a dime?"
Wake up folks, they're your customers, they keep you in business, they pay your bills Don't you want them to have easy access to your store? Of course you do.
So, please, those of you who practice this absurd behavior, stop!!! Those of you that don't, please speak up. This hurts all of us.
Ed Phelps Ypsilanti
Comments
Cash
Mon, Jan 4, 2010 : 1:26 p.m.
A good share of those Michigan Avenue spots are taken up by EMU students going into the COB....this way they don't have to buy their EMU hang tag necessary to park both in the structure and in the Key Bank Parking Lot. Hang Tag Fees(subject to change) Fees are for 2009 - 2010 School year. Commuter $ 75.00 (FALL TERM 2009 ONLY) Commuter $ 75.00 (WINTER TERM 2010 ONLY) Commuter $ 37.50 (SPRING TERM 2010 ONLY) Commuter $ 37.50 (SUMMER TERM 2010 ONLY) Residents $ 150.00 (for FALL 2009 and WINTER 2010 TERMS) Residents $ 75.00 (for SPRING 2010 and SUMMER 2010 TERMS)
Cash
Mon, Jan 4, 2010 : 6:47 a.m.
I'm not sure anything can be done about this issue. Is it against the parking code? I doubt it.I have no idea who these people could be. The folks I know who have businesses in downtown Ypsilanti are hard-working, stressed out, and WONDERFUL people who are fighting to save our downtown and bending over backward to please the customer. But I guarantee you that I will be sitting eating my lunch at J Neils and watching like a hawk....I want to know who these people are. Not that I can do anything legally, but perhaps outing them in the media would shock them into stopping this practice. This is Sgt Cash and I am officially accepting assignment to Mich Ave Parking Spy duty.
Steve Pierce
Sun, Jan 3, 2010 : 8:29 p.m.
Andy, At the top of the page is says "LETTERS TO THE EDITOR". I think AnnArbor.com has made it pretty clear it is an opinion piece. What Mr. Phelps is pretty much true true. It is just a handful of residents, owners and employees who play the parking lot shuffle game. Despite having free all day parking throughout the area, these bums take up the most desirable 2-hour free parking spots. If you can help Ypsilanti by figuring out a way to crack down on parking lot shufflers, it would really help the business owners that are doing good things in our community and make it easier for customers to find parking spaces. Lord knows annarbor.com has needed a swift kick in the head for bad reporting but I am not sure this is one of those times. Steve
AndyYpsilanti
Sun, Jan 3, 2010 : 6:03 p.m.
Everything Mr. Phelps said may be true. He may have made it up. It may be sort of true. ITS HIS OPINION. This is not a news story, and should not be presented as a feature story. It belongs in the opinion section. That is my point.
dading dont delete me bro
Sun, Jan 3, 2010 : 3:44 p.m.
yes, simply a "what if" rant. "what if" the downtown employees were parking where they're supposed to? hunh?!? "what if?" certainly ed phelps has nothing better to do than shoo his fingers at something that "might have" happened?
AndyYpsilanti
Sun, Jan 3, 2010 : 3:19 p.m.
If this letter was written about downtown Ann Arbor merchants, would it have appeared on the Ann Arbor Featured story page? No, it would have been on the opinion page. Why would your organization of coverage for other areas you cover be different? Letters to the editor belong on the opinion page, crime belongs on the crime blotter. Each city should have separate tabs for each, just like A2. To do otherwise is confusing to readers and, in cases such as this article and your crime reports, lends an appearance of bias.
Steve Pepple
Sun, Jan 3, 2010 : 1:45 p.m.
@Andy Ypsilanti. This letter to the editor is tagged to post in both the opinion section and (because it has to do with Ypsilanti) the Ypsilanti section of our site. The entries in most sections of our site are not in any hierarchical order. They are in chronological order based on when they are published or, if you choose the Popular tab, by popularity based on readers' votes.
AndyYpsilanti
Sun, Jan 3, 2010 : 9:49 a.m.
You have got to be kidding me. AA.com you just posted an unsubstantiated rant on parking to the degradation of Ypsilanti's entire buisness district as a top story in the city. You need to take a serious look at the organization and presentation of Ypsilanti news. This belongs on the opinion page, like your story addressing the question of bias in your Ypsilanti reporting was placed. That story belonged in your Ypsi front page; this one does not.