....If Hotz went one way....all traffic, boats with trailers, delivery trucks, all residents from those streets (upper Defuniak Street, Hotz, Banefil, Garfield etc...would have to use the very narrow and very tight Lydia Street to get out of Grayton and back onto Defuniak. We already have a traffic problem on Defuniak with incoming cars and now the county wants to spread this traffic around so that this flow of cars will be all over Grayton. The solution is not to turn Hotz into a one way...but to make one side of the Hotz "downtown area" only have parallel parking. (Yes, giving up some parking spots.) As a resident of Grayton, the traffic that is causing the parking problem is due to the restaurants who pull in lots of traffic. Why should the residents of the community, many who were here before the restaurants, have to give up their neighborhood so that these businesses can make more money? As it is now, folks in our area are always "fighting off" cars parking on their private property or even blocking their driveways. Sometimes a business out grows their area, sometimes a business needs to provide off site parking. When this happens, it should be the bussiness who provides the solution, not the surrounding neighborhood community. The idea of using state land for a parking lots is stupid! No business, no matter how great their food is, is that important! I am hoping that it will be standing room only at this meeting on Tuesday and that we can put a stop to this plan of a one way Hotz. In hindsight, perhaps the county zoning board should have listen to the Grayton residents when they spoke up before Shorty's opened up. We were already having parking problems in that area but the COUNTY didn't see that as a problem. They ignored us! The Fire Truck situation last July finally made the COUNTY realize that there was a problem, a problem they helped to make. Hopefully our residents, our neighborhood, and our way of life here in Grayton will win out and they will finally listen to us.
