With the loss of the downtown Florence parking deck and a long wait for its replacement, the City of Florence can expect parking problems. Now the police department has issued a press release telling would be violators their vehicles will be towed if parked on private lots owned by local businesses.
The population of Florence reached its peak in 2019. Since that time, the number of Florence citizens has shrunk by almost 1,000. So the downtown area may be "growing," but the city isn't. If the population isn't expanding, why is traffic downtown?
Forty years ago, perhaps even 30, you would have been hard pressed to find a place to eat on Court Street, especially after 5:00 p.m. Now the town's high street boasts more neon after dark than some Nevada communities. With these eateries comes alcohol. It's been well over a year since we've heard of any major problems resulting from alcohol sales downtown, but parking woes grow.
A manager at a local Subway told us months ago how difficult it was to keep the Court Street location's parking lot free from squatters. We can imagine it's even more so after the opening of Mugshots.
Solutions? We're thinking downtown businesses need to hire their own monitors to enforce non-trespassing on private property. At least it's one deterrent.
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A reader sent us a pithy thought on why the population of Florence is shrinking:
Maybe the exodus from Florence is driven by people with a burning desire to vote for the county Superintendent of Education?