Thursday, May 31, 2007

Fondren Parking Lot Woes and the Symphony of Whines

Got to love spoiled brats.

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=13808_0_27_0_C#85921

Did it ever occur to the "power to the people" crowd that a business needs customers in order to survive? Its pretty simple. No customers=no business. If people can't park close to your business, they can't patronize your business. Apparently this elementary lesson of economics escapes some people.

I wonder how much they would complain if they went to the bank to make deposits( so they could pay their bills ) 30 minutes before the bank closed but were unable to do so because there was a long line of people there to cash checks who did not have accounts at the bank but the bank cashed them anyway.

Lenny's is not the only business that does this. For years the Elite Restaurant on Capitol Street has had a reputation for towing cars if the owners were not patrons if the restaurant. I've yet to hear a peep about all the cars that were towed over the years.

Instead of complaining to the businesses and their landlords or to the city council and Mayor about the lack of parking, they instead complain about a business that does have some parking space but won't let them use it as it fills up with his customers. More than likely he was being nice for awhile and let non-customers park in his lot but then it got to the point where it was hurting his business as his customers were turned away by the filled up parking lot.

However, he is the selfish one.

Right.

Thought I just had. Where is our fearless leader? When he is not playing cops and robbers, cowboys and injuns, or whatever his game of the hour is, you would think that this is the kind of problem he would be interested in solving. Of course, it might not appeal to him as it doesn't involve sirens or guns.


June 1, 2007: Just had yet another thought reading through the JFP thread. Since the leadership of the JFP thinks the owners of Lenny's have gone too far, why don't they allow people who need to park to use their parking lot and put up signs at the affected businesses saying so? I am all for leading by example. ;-)

3 comments:

Tom Head said...

See also the State Street vacant library building debate. How can we favor making $2,000/month lofts out of this historic building instead of letting the Mississippi Center for Justice have it, and then talk about how upset we are that the "privileged and powerful" are trying to take the city back?


Cheers,

TH

Anonymous said...

Am I supposed to believe that those economic visionaries didn't see this problem coming from years away?

A walking district is great but there is no way the immediate surrounding neighborhood would ever produce the volume of business necessary to keep all those storefronts, too many of which feature high dollar merchandise, afloat.

Those small business owners set up in that location planning from the start to attract customers from outside the immediate vicinity and they advertise accordingly to generate that incremental traffic. If they didn't factor parking into their business plans then they have no one to blame but themselves.

Now I read where Ladd feels that Lenny's is too gleeful. How myopic. What would she rather they do? Increase the cost of doing business by hiring a parking lot monitor? Think of the confrontation that would create. Should they build a gate? Or how about pay parking that would be free to Lenny's patrons?

And since Ladd wants "restraint" and "good will" in the area does it make sense to set up a blog entry where her following, sans a level headed Knol Aust, can repeatedly blast Lenny's for trying to keep their business in business?

The other part of the discussion I find distressing is that 99% of the suggestions for additional parking fall west of State Street. Guess those folks living on that side of State would have to lump it.

And why is no one suggesting that people park where there is plenty of available street space down Glenway or Galloway or Kings Highway -- all short walks away. Hmmm, wonder why? Could it be that the people living in neighborhoods on the east side of State and Old Canton don't want customers parking in front of their homes?

Kingfish said...

KP:

good points are made. What I would like to see is Melton and the city council representative for that area get together with the business owners and work out a solution.

Walking is nice but when you have two or three kids or are pushing a stroller, you don't want to walk a couple of blocks just to run in and out to get one or two things.

Hmmm...I wonder if the JFP will let them take up all of their parking spaces to go shop there?

Couldn't resist that jab. ;-)



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