UPDATE: City Cancels New $10 Parking Fee For Trump Event After ‘Reconsidering’
On May 30, City Council voted to enforce a $10 parking fee for the upcoming GOP Convention featuring President Donald J. Trump. However, after the publication of our original article, City Council has changed their minds. The city has since canceled the parking fee after ‘reconsidering.’ Explore the full story to see how one city councilor described the situation in an email.
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An artistic expression of President Donald J. Trump, superimposed on a colorized image of the Convention & Trade Center in Columbus, Georgia. After city council’s initial May 30 vote to enforce a $10 parking fee during the upcoming GOP event featuring Trump, the city has since canceled the fee after ‘reconsidering.’ The city did not charge any fees for the democrat convention held here last year.
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Muscogee Muckraker
By
Muscogee Muckraker
Published
June 2, 2023
Updated
January 8, 2024 2:54 PM
ET

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COLUMBUS, Ga. — After initially voting to enforce a $10 parking fee in all city lots during the upcoming GOP event featuring President Donald J. Trump, the Columbus Consolidated Government has now decided to cancel the fee after ‘reconsidering’ the move.

The parking fee was originally voted on and approved during the  May 30 council meeting at the request of city manager Isaiah Hugley.

No such fee was even considered during the democrat convention held last year on August 27, 2022.

Within hours of our original story published on the subject which exposed the obvious political discrimination by city officials, the city announced that the readily-apparent ‘GOP-Only Fee’ has been canceled.

Councilor Tyson Begly described the city’s ‘reconsideration’ in his June 1, 2023 email newsletter, which reads as follows:

“Special Event Parking Fees (Passed but Reconsidered): There was a lot of discussion regarding a proposed new resolution to "allow parking fees to be charged in all parking garages and parking lots owned by the City in the Uptown Zoning District and the Central Riverfront Zoning District to include the RiverCenter Garage for certain special events that are anticipated to create extraordinary parking demand and public safety concerns". The resolution was prompted by the upcoming GOP convention, as the event team suggested that implementing a parking fee would enhance security by limiting the number of unauthorized individuals attending for free. City Council had various concerns, such as the sudden implementation of parking fees affecting the Miss Georgia competition scheduled for the same weekend, as well as ensuring fairness in selecting events to charge for parking. Initially, the resolution was passed based on the security considerations, but after conducting further research, it was reconsidered. Consequently, there will be no parking fees for next week's events, and the future plan will be revisited on June 13th.”

The needle has been moved.

Stay with the Muckraker as we continue coverage of this issue.

Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.

-30-

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Be sure to follow Muscogee Muckraker on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see all the muck that’s fit to print as it breaks throughout the coming week.

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