For about a half-dozen Saturdays every fall, Gainesville becomes a carnival of orange and blue.
Make no mistake - football season is an engine that drives this place. Bars become crammed to the door, restaurant wait times skyrocket, and traffic can get unbearable.
And most importantly, it's good for business.
Alumni, students, their families and residents all know this. It's been this way for years.
So why would the city even consider a recent proposal to add more regulations to the parking and tailgating that happens in the neighborhoods just outside of the stadium?
There are several single-family homes just north of campus that are inhabited by everything from Cup Noodles-grubbing students to regular families. On gameday, these streets are lined with cars in every imaginable spot, and many residents often offer their yards up in order to make some easy cash.
Often, these yards also have all-day tailgating parties. Folks set up tents, roll out their TVs and fire up their grills.
Proponents say these parties and the litter left afterward are the real problem. They wish for people to just park their cars and walk to the game.
Some of these concerns are understandable, but we just don't feel another bureaucratic layer of regulation is the answer.
The city Planning Department would establish a special-use permit, which would cost between $50 and $55, and require that all properties wanting to park vehicles for pay obtain this.
The fee would be an additional cost to residents, as they've been required to pay a $52 business tax since 2009. They would even have to submit a parking plan with a map indicating where the cars will be parked.
These changes come from the City Plan Board, made up of residents. The City Commission would then have to pass them twice before they could take effect.
We understand residents want these neighborhoods to be left intact after game days. We also agree that it's important to get a handle on any kind of outrageous behavior.
But at some point, residents have to realize that they live in a big-time college football town with a big-time college football program. The tailgating, beer-guzzling, cornhole-playing revelry that comes with every gameday are part of the deal when you move into a house that is minutes away from the stadium.
