Dear Commissioners,

I’m writing to you as a home and business owner in Jim Thorpe. I read in the Times News recently that you plan to raise rates in the county parking lot and metered parking in downtown. I understand your reasoning and even support the move, however, I am writing to ask you to please consider allowing residents of Carbon County a special rate. It would be a nice consideration for your constituents who are already paying taxes in the region. Although we rely on tourism, I hold hope that we can continue to strive to be a downtown for locals as well ... not to mention the people who may need to pay to park to work or volunteer downtown.

I’m writing this message to you from a seat at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, an amazing local nonprofit resource that adds to both the economy and our community’s quality of life as a venue for the arts. As I type this, seats are filling with local families who came to see their high school students perform in a show that is a fundraiser for Jim Thorpe High School’s theater program. Please think of the potential hardship raising rates will present for local events such as this. Wouldn’t it be good to encourage locals to come downtown and enjoy what people from all over the world come here to see? And perhaps it would serve as a nice gesture of gratitude for paying taxes and putting up with the seasonal traffic?

Thanks for your consideration.

Amber Finsel

Jim Thorpe