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Published Monday, February 22, 2010 in Local

Photo by Elizabeth Melville

Main Street Newnan Business Development Director Linda Kee leaves a tasty treat for an unassuming downtown visitor who helped out the city by parking off the Court Square.

You may get a treat from Main Street if you park in downtown parking lots

By Elizabeth Melville

The Newnan Times-Herald

Main Street Newnan employees are focusing on a new grassroots effort aimed at improving parking conditions in downtown.

This initiative involves positively reinforcing downtown employees who voluntarily park off the Court Square to free up spaces for visitors.

The idea is the brainchild of city Director of Business Development Linda Kee.

"If ticketing for parking on the square isn't working, maybe rewarding those who park off the square in public lots will," said Kee.

Kee and Main Street Event Coordinator Tina Darby are leaving surprises randomly on vehicles left in the public parking lots.

Main Street recently treated several motorists to a homemade malted hot cocoa mix with a note thanking them for supporting downtown.

"Your contribution does not go unnoticed!" the note read.

Main Street's already gotten positive feedback from a merchant who joked that he had been parking in public lots for five years and this was the first reward he'd ever received. He also wondered if he could get some marshmallows to go with his cocoa if he continued to park in the lots for another five years.

Kee said their small gift won't always be hot chocolate. It might be a card some weeks or a cookie, or she may bring a basket of homemade muffins to a business that requires their employees park away from the square.

"It will always be something with some thought behind it," said Kee. "We put time into this, it's truly that important to us. Until the people who work downtown take the pride and responsibility to park off the square, we can't do away with two-hour parking."

The public lots are peppered throughout downtown and are all within reasonable walking distance of downtown businesses, according to Kee. A few of those lots include the O.C. Williams lot at the corner of LaGrange Street and Spring Street, the Walls-Gill Memorial Parking Lot at the corner of Spring Street and First Avenue and the Gov. Ellis Arnall lot at the corner of Perry Street and West Washington. Kee says she never sees the lots full during the day.

Kee says that she's fully aware that this gesture isn't big enough to make someone suddenly start parking off the square.

"The point is that we truly care enough to try to spread that message," said Kee. "It's a symbol of how much we care. We know it's not a solution, but it's our way of saying thank you."