The City Beautiful has begrudgingly decided to accept the working man's auto.
On Election Day, voters in Coral Gables voted to end the city's 50-year old prohibition on overnight parked trucks. The question whether to keep the law was put on the ballot by citizens (unlike the 11 state constitutional amendments).
Eugene Gutierrez and his wife, Linda Chippendale, voted at the Plymouth Congregational Church in Coral Gables. Speaking outside the polling place, they discover that they voted differently.
“We are called the City Beautiful," Gutierrez says, "I’m looking at all these homes, and I don’t think it helps property values.”
“It’s a car!" Chippendale exclaims, "I used to have a pickup; it was my favorite vehicle! So it makes no difference to me.”
The Coral Gables law had banned the outdoor overnight parking of trucks but allowed the parking of SUVs and other large 4x4s. Car dealerships are happy that the restriction is over.
Pedro Llapur of sales division at Lorenzo-Bomnin Chevrolet says, "It's good because a lot of people need a truck for what they do, and it's good for us!"
Llapur says he hasn't noticed an increase in truck sales, but news of the ban's end perhaps hasn't reached everyone.
