The residents of Wil vote on the popular initiative “30 minutes free parking in the city of Wil”. The city parliament has presented a counter-proposal to the initiative.
Both templates have the same goal. They should increase the attractiveness of the city of Wil as a shopping location. City council and city parliament are of the opinion that this goal can be better achieved with a city fund.
For customers who drive their cars
With the popular initiative, the SVP initiative committee wants to enable free parking in all public parking spaces for the first 30 minutes. In doing so, she wants to make shopping in the city center more attractive for customers who drive by car.
With the initiative, the SVP wants to counteract the progressive death of shops and support the trade and gastronomy. The majority of the city parliament is of the opinion that this request unilaterally favors motorized traffic and, in a counter-proposal, calls for the creation of a city fund.
Committee against the initiative
Projects that increase the attractiveness of the city as a market and meeting place are to be funded with an annual CHF 200,000 from the municipal budget. For example, local businesses could be supported with discounted shopping vouchers. The city fund is “too bureaucratic” for the SVP.
According to the non-partisan committee that was formed to support the counter-proposal, the city fund could also be used to offer discounted parking spaces. Die Mitte, EVP, FDP, GLP, Grüne Prowil, SP and the board of directors of Wil Shopping have also joined the committee.
Free parking in Herisau
According to the city of Wil, the initiative should cost 600,000 francs. The initiators warn against accurate forecasts. The reference numbers of the extrapolation are not reliable. Likewise, one does not know how much additional income can be generated for the business with half an hour of free parking. There are no figures from Herisau either. The capital of the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden adopted a comparable initiative two years ago. It was also launched by the SVP. The new parking regime in Herisau has been in force since July 2020.
Three voting questions
Three voting questions are presented to voters. Yes or no to the initiative? Yes or no to the counter-proposal? And finally the key question: If both templates receive a yes majority, which template is to be given preference? The electoral citizenship of Wil decides on February 13th at the ballot box.