Oxford has a problem with escalating prices, and nowhere is this more evident than the tax that has been levied on anyone who wants to access the Square, a space that should ostensibly be public but, with the addition of these parking meters, has essentially been reserved for those who can afford it.
The city of Oxford added $1 an hour parking meters on the Square, thus taxing anyone who does not live within walking distance.
Who lives within walking distance of the Square?
The median house value in Oxford nearly doubled from $120,100 in 2000 to $214,000 in 2010. As most of the most valuable, high-end properties within Oxford city limits border the Square and the university, that means that only the rich, freshmen, Greek students who live on campus and the hold-outs – long-time residents who are less well-off — live within walking distance of the Square.
Everyone else, which includes the impoverished who have been pushed to or outside city limits, undergrad and graduate students who cannot afford to live close to campus and the vast majority of the African American population in Oxford now have to pay simply to participate in Oxford’s Square, which, again, is a public space. Not only is that true, but these citizens also have to pay an exorbitant amount for parking, which, considering the population of Oxford, is too much.
Understandably, cities like Chicago, Denver and Atlanta charge $2 an hour for premium parking, but Memphis, the closest large city to Oxford, often charges less than $1 an hour.
It should be noted that these cities have population densities anywhere from three to 10 times that of Oxford, a city in the poorest state in America. Also, Oxford is a citywhere many people work in restaurants or in low-wage jobs on campus.Three hours on the Square may be enough to significantly hurt their buying power, whether they are at Off Square Books, City Grocery or YaYa’s.
Many people are happy with the results of the parking meters, because, for those able to pay the meter, parking is more convenient now. Yet every empty parking space is hurting businesses on the Square, and every dollar spent on parking is a dollar not spent in the businesses that keep life in Oxford vibrant and interesting.
In short, Oxford has redlined — meaning it has used economic policy to effectively bar the participation of minorities and the impoverished — its only major public space.
That the town and people of this town are applauding such efforts and their effects is troubling. If Oxford insists on these parking meters, then they should cost half as much as they do now. But this insistence is flawed. We should be questioning whether they’re necessary at all.
Whitney Barringer is a doctoral candidate in history.
