I would like to respond to what has been said recently about downtown parking. It was refreshing to hear that no final decision has been made by the city council concerning the matter. It appears to me that New Albany faces a situation face by very few cities of it’s size. Most county seats of most cities the size of ours have a square with the county courthouse in it’s center. This affords parking on four streets surrounding the square which constitutes the business district. New Albany is not designed that way. In fact, the courthouse is a block from the main business district and there is only one street for our main business district and that is Bankhead Street. Of course, there is Main Street, but it is much less busy. Being that most business downtown is conducted on one street rather than four, parking is much more limited. Faced with such a design eliminating any parking downtown will definitely harm the downtown business community and could have the effect of driving businesses out of downtown. Even being aware that the intent of those that would like to beautify and change downtown is commendable, it would be a shame if that were the result of such a beautification effort. It would be wonderful if there could be an accommodation that would allow a beautification project that would not require widening sidewalks and elimination of center street parking.
It has been pointed out that it is illegal. It was illegal when Bankhead Street was a FEDERAL highway-US Highway 78-and all the traffic from Birmingham to Memphis flowed right through downtown New Albany. If fairness, let’s not use such a reason as an excuse to follow through with this project.
