My humble opinion is in response to the editorial by Mr. J. Lynn West concerning center street parking in New Albany that is largely attributed to Ms. Billye Jean Stroud. Ms. Stroud referred to Mr. Jeff Siegler of Revitalize or Die. Let me say that I don’t see my downtown in the process of dying. I agree that a city of our size doesn’t need a parking garage, or a city provided parking lot that they need to walk from to get to the merchants.

There are numerous examples of small cities that have changed the nature of their downtowns to attract people which has ruined the businesses that they were designed to help. One example is Rock Hill, SC. It was admittedly larger than New Albany even in the last century. It is much larger today because of its proximity to Charlotte. The city fathers determined in that small city to enclose their city and make into a mall like the one in Minneapolis. It was a total flop but the damage was done.

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lynn.west@journalinc.com