Going nuts wins against Wollongong parking meters

By Laurel-Lee Roderick
Updated November 6 2012 - 12:11am, first published April 29 2010 - 12:57am
Good result: Kerry Stylianou and Chris Kizi won free parking spaces. Picture: GREG TOTMAN
Good result: Kerry Stylianou and Chris Kizi won free parking spaces. Picture: GREG TOTMAN

Lobbying against parking meters has delivered a small victory for one Wollongong family business, which has scored two new free parking spaces outside its doors.Chris Kizi from Wollongong Nut and Deli fronted council administrators on Tuesday night, telling them the meters were punishing the wrong people.His speech proved unnecessary, with administrator Col Gellatly revealing the council had already decided to create two free 15-minute spaces in front of the shop. The change is the second since the official start of metered parking, after half-hour zones in Burelli St were returned to one-hour parking."We accept the need for turnover," Dr Gellatly said.The news came after Mr Kizi described the plight the Kembla St family business faced after more than 40 years in business."With the introduction of parking meters, the store has lost a minimum of 30 per cent of business trade," Mr Kizi said."It will have a spiralling effect and will ultimately result in us having to dismiss staff."Mr Kizi said customers were not prepared to pay an extra $2 to park, when they were only spending $5 to $15 on nuts."After all the successful years in our family business, we had never anticipated ... that council would become our main competitor in driving people away," he said."It is not fair on us or our customers. It is punishing the wrong people."After the meeting, Dr Gellatly said he was not concerned about setting a precedent for other businesses who might also want free spaces. He revealed that additional free 15-minute spaces were also likely to be rolled out near chemists, where carers and medical professionals were being slugged to pick up prescriptions for patients."We will treat each issue on its merits," Dr Gellatly said.City Diggers general manager and parking meter critic Phil Ryan suggested the administrators were out of touch with the impact of parking meters on the city.In a written response to questions Mr Ryan posed at the March council meeting, administrator Richard Colley said it was "not evident that parking meters have had a detrimental effect on the CBD".

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