Editor:
    The city council is considering another bone-headed ordinance. They want to restrict where homeowners park on their own property. That is outrageous.
    We know this is aimed at college students who have no respect for the property they rent. I find it astounding that so many people in Statesboro and Bulloch County want the money the college students bring in but don’t want the bother of the students. Wouldn’t it be great if the students just sent their money here and went to some remote area where the good citizens couldn’t be offended by their actions?
    Unfortunately, ordinances can’t be applied selectively, or fortunately, depending on your prospective. Many middle-class homeowners who are permanent residents have more cars than garage. I am one of them. We have a boat, two personal vehicles, a work vehicle and a two-car garage. Many of my neighbors are in the same situation. If there are teenagers in a family, there can be three, four, five or more cars on a homeowner’s property. What happens when we want to invite a few friends over? Where will they park? Will they car-pool from some public parking lot the city builds to handle the problem?
    What about modest-sized homes that have no garage and no paved driveway? Will they be required to build a garage and paved driveway? What if they don’t have the money to fund these improvements? Will they have to sell their home because they can’t afford to bring it up to compliance? Who will buy a modest house that needs several thousand dollars worth of legislated improvements?
    Sara Neville Bennett opines that property values are affected by cars parked in a yard. Does she have any facts or figures that support her opinion? I say property just like any thing else is worth what somebody is willing to pay for it. For every squeamish, prissy, prospective property owner who is offended by a car in the yard, there is another buyer who is not. Property values are more likely to be affected because an older home has no master suite, no fancy kitchen, no media room and the color scheme hasn’t been updated in years and/or there is a glut of new homes on the market. That’s my opinion and I have no facts to prove it.
    I suggest that the residents of “nicer” neighborhoods who want a “higher” standard for their neighborhood to form a Neighborhood Council for their neighborhood and adopt covenants that include fines for violators. Leave the rest of us alone.
    I ask the Statesboro city manager, the planning commission, the city council “is this parking ordinance what a majority of the citizens of Statesboro want or are you kowtowing to a select few?”
    Does the city council have the authority to tell me where I can park on my own property?
    For my part, I am tired of a government, be it local, state or federal, that continues to pile taxes on top of taxes while chipping away at the rights of the people they are taxing.
    I challenge my fellow citizens to pay attention to what is happening on all levels of government. Our rights are slowly being taken away. I may sound like a radical extremist, but I am not. I am a 60-year-old retiree who is appalled at the erosion of the rights of citizens of this town, county, state and country. We must stand up and say enough is enough.
Mildred H. Harville

Statesboro