Regarding the article “Lighthouse parking passes have arrived”: Can we please call this what it truly is? It’s a non-resident fee for using something located in Mukilteo. The reason I ask to label it correctly is my fear of what comes next. Why doesn’t the city of Edmonds adopt the same policy for Brackets Landing (Ferry Terminal Beach)? Non Edmonds residents would now pay to use the beach. But why limit the idea to beaches?
The city of Lynnwood, in its never-ending thirst for automobile revenue via the traffic camera, could also implement the idea at Alderwood mall. Non-Lynnwood residents would pay to park at the mall. Do you really think the idea would drive customers away? I don’t. Lynnwood could now generate revenue not only when you drive your car and roll through a stop light, but also when it is legally parked at the mall, as long as you have paid your hourly non-resident fee.
North of Lynnwood is the outlet mall. Not only is the place packed every weekend, but a good portion of the crowd is not only non-resident, but non-U.S. citizen. How much should they pay to park? Would $5 an hour be unreasonable? Based on the large amount of shopping bags headed to the trunks of cars, I seriously doubt it would impact business for the tribe.
It’s not really the money that bothers me, but the underlying tone that it sets concerning my freedom. In the former Soviet Union, you didn’t dare leave your home, or travel, without the proper documentation. How soon will it be until I pull into a parking spot, in a town that I don’t live in, and someone taps me on the shoulder and says “Your papers please.” Sound chilling?
Now that the residents of Mukilteo have their “parking passes,” they may hang their “papers” on the rearview mirror. How soon until Edmonds, Lynnwood, and others join in? Where does it end?
Rob Freedman
Stanwood
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