As a more recent transplant to the Jim Thorpe area, I wanted to express a viewpoint on the parking issues. For over twenty years, I brought my family up here for vacations during the Christmas season. When we would arrive to our rental home, it in fact was like coming home.

That feeling was something we looked forward to all year. And as a tourist, yearly, Jim Thorpe and the surrounding events in the area offered us years of family memory making that today we still hold dear to our hearts.

One year ago I had the privilege to purchase my home here in Jim Thorpe, making this my permanent residence. I am very grateful and very proud to have the privilege to live where I do.

As a resident who would love to visit the town of Jim Thorpe more often, I find having to pay such a cost for parking a bit on the difficult side, and that cost hinders how often I can go into town and appreciate the shops I have such an affinity for. It is one of my favorite pastimes to venture into town, to visit each vendor to appreciate Dimmick library, still carrying that tourist appreciation for an area I truly love.

I would love to go more frequently to become a regular patron, and enjoy the wineries, the food, even the train — yet parking adds an extra burden if I want to go once per week into town. I firmly believe residents of Jim Thorpe should have some type of perk so that we can enjoy what our area offers.

Paying taxes into our county should offer us a different parking option. While I do not have an easy answer to parking difficulties. residents should have the option, even if during the week, to frequent our beautiful town, enjoy the library, the wineries, and all of the things that tourists enjoy when they come to visit, however, even more so because we are invested here. I am sure there could be ongoing discussions related to ideas and creative ways they can allow a different parking option for those of us that live here. Whether it’s a local business that allows free parking and then we can shuttle in? Or discounted rates or free one day a week when the shops are open. I want to always have that tourist feeling when I come into town because it allows me to appreciate what brought me here in the first place and I believe Jim Thorpe residents should have benefits that actually say thank you for choosing our town to shop and to visit.