Thank you, members of the town council, for agreeing to this meeting. As you know, we are here to discuss whether the town should do away with parking fines for street parking. As a small business owner, I can tell you that my customers don’t like getting tickets for overstaying their time at a parking meter. It makes them feel like they’re being punished for shopping downtown. And many customers have told me that sometimes they shop at the big chain stores, which have parking lots, just so they can take their time and not risk getting a ticket. So, giving out fines for street parking is hurting small businesses. I know that some will say that the town needs the revenue from these fines. But I say, a vibrant downtown with independent businesses and happy shoppers brings in far more money than a few parking tickets. And if we keep giving out parking tickets, we won’t have happy shoppers or a vibrant downtown. Additionally, the money the town gets from parking tickets is an extremely small part of its annual revenue and could easily be made up from other sources.
use the passage, a speech given at a meeting, to answer the question. Who is the audience for this speech?
A. the town council
B. shoppers
C. town residents
D. small business owners