Business owners react to first day of paid parking
What started out as a quiet morning in Downtown Fernandina Beach ended up with business as usual. The gloomy weather kept many off the streets and had business owners speculating if it could be due to today being the first day of the city’s paid parking program.
When it began at 10 a.m, numerous parking spaces along Centre Street and Ash Street in downtown Fernandina Beach could be seen vacant.
“It looks like a ghost town, it's freaky,” said store owner Kimberly Aspinwall of Amelia Linen and Wood.
Employees of the Twisted Sisters store on Centre Street arrived to see no one had parked in the spaces outside of their shop.
“We are normally the first one full and it was entirely empty,” said Twisted Sisters employee Cheryl.
Marisol Triana the owner of Hola! Cuban Cafe described the scene on Monday as “eerie” since holidays usually result in increased business.
By afternoon the sun came out as well as several visitors to the downtown streets. The vendor One Parking opened the doors of the city hall commission chambers for another opportunity for in-person registration for residents to obtain parking permits.
While Monday marked the soft launch of paid parking, citations will not be issued for violations until Mar 16. City staff has stated the mission of the soft launch to be a method of educating the public prior to collecting fees.
An employee from One Parking told the News-Leader they will not be issuing warning tickets or patrolling the streets until March 1.
Some visitors could be seen scanning the QR codes for payment while some were heard chatting about their conscious decision not to pay for the time being.
The City of Fernandina Beach Government announced on Facebook that as of Feb. 14 more than 3,000 City residents have registered for their free parking pass.
Due to the “high demand” One Parking will be hosting more open houses throughout the week in the city hall commission chambers.