Not that giving up on that much City revenue is such a little thing, necessarily.  But in terms of a person taking the time and trouble to come downtown and attend the special events or shop in local stores (hard as it is to believe that they might do such a thing), a five-dollar deal is one of those little things that count, absolutely:

Democrat & Chronicle: Local News

November 21, 2006 9:11 am ? With numerous holiday activities in Rochester in the coming weeks, Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy has expanded free holiday parking options. The program will begin Friday ? “Black Friday,” the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season ? and will run through Jan. 2.

Good for Mayor Duffy. I almost forgive him for the unforgivable condition of my street.  Almost, but I still want the damned leaf pulp cleaned up.

Now, the big question is: since he’s elected to go for the big giveaway of parking revenues, will he seal the deal with some City-wide advertisement to give people a reason to go downtown other than free parking?  Damned sure Midtown ain’t it anymore. 

This might be one of those occasions when a day-time version of the Sleazy Rider would be a good choice: get people downtown, and then take them all over the city to shop where they want to.  Rides to Park Ave, rides to Monroe Ave (with bullet-proof glass, of course) and to the Art district.  At least with this new version, it would be more seasonal and far less likely to leave drunken visitors stranded on Liberty Pole at 2am.

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