The drama continues

A little more on the parking drama, but the plot thickens.

Apparently the original one-hour limits on downtown parking weren't some concoction from the minds of the Athens-Clarke County Commissioners, but based on the recommendations and done with the blessings of the Athens Downtown Development Authority, which represents downtown businesses (along with another organization).

This was pointed out to me by a few sources just as I was reading this week's City Dope in Flagpole, which said this ...

... Turns out, downtown business and property owners now say they were not consulted on the matter, and they disagree with the ordinance passed this month that would keep one-hour parking meters on Clayton and Broad streets. Commissioner Mike Hamby, who sits on the Athens Downtown Development Authority board, says he’ll move to have the item reconsidered and tweaked at the Apr. 7 Commission meeting, making two-hour meters the blanket standard. Some downtowners also want the David Lynn-proposed $10 and $15 fees reexamined, but that appears unlikely. Just FYI.

This whole thing seems mighty muddled, doesn't it? First, we have a collection of downtown business owners grandstanding over an unnecessary petition that merely requests something the commission had already told said owners they were willing to do anyway. Second, if the ADDA was content with the original proposal regarding the one-hour limit - and had even, as has been reported widely, that they offered recommendations on fines and limits to the commission - then the argument that they weren't consulted seems, well, kinda wrong.