The Herald (Dec. 23) had an interesting story headlined “Free parking downtown not loved by all.” I was in Durango during the free-parking period and was amazed that the merchants allowed their employees to use up all of the available space. I admit this was an educated guess since all parking on Main and East Second avenues were full while a normally full East Third Avenue was empty of parked cars.
As quoted in the story, Alan Cuenca of Put-a-Cork-in-It got it right, saying: “Idealistically, it was a good idea, but ultimately what has happened is all the employees that work downtown are taking full advantage of the free parking.”
It’s too bad the other downtown merchants don’t understand that retail means people come into your place of business to purchase items that you have invested in. The “frantic frenzy” for parking was created by the merchants who did not instruct their employees to park elsewhere to allow customers, a necessary requirement to retail, to park for free.
The city of Durango was trying to give the merchants a “boost.” Too bad they did not understand.
I drove around downtown looking for a spot and finally left. I’ll complete my shopping elsewhere.
Brian Sobetzer
Dolores
