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Lincoln Daily News
520 Broadway Street
Lincoln, IL 62656
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To the Editor:
I fully recognize the City of Lincoln faces challenges ensuring
there is adequate parking downtown for everyone who wishes to visit.
I hope the option(s) chosen address the underlying problem: there is
simply not enough parking downtown, and thoughtful strategy is
needed to ensure that there is.
At Tuesday night’s Committee of the Whole meeting, proposals were
floated that included installing parking meters in downtown Lincoln
and creating an annual parking pass for residents to park at those
metered spots. For those unaware, this stems from downtown business
employees not following a city ordinance that requires downtown
parking spots to only be used by customers.
Charging for those limited spaces would not increase parking
capacity on the square. Instead, it would only continue the current
status quo of first come, first serve for the limited parking spots
on the square – the only difference being that customers would now
have to pay to secure one of those select spots. It should be noted
that, while the key supporter of the plan cited previous experience
in Springfield regarding annual parking passes,
the capital city is currently in the process of removing parking
meters from its downtown to “encourage more people to come
downtown to shop, dine, conduct business, and enjoy the many
cultural and entertainment opportunities available throughout the
area.” If parking meters are no good for Springfield – with its more
sprawling downtown and population of 112,000 residents – then are
meters good for Lincoln and its more modest downtown and population?
[to top of second column in this letter] |
I strongly urge Mayor Welch, the City Council, and
all city leaders involved in this decision to be thoughtful and do their due
diligence on this topic before implementing any changes. Research other cities
that have faced similar parking challenges and how they addressed them. As
someone who is not downtown daily, I would certainly avoid going there if the
cost was $500 a year (or $42 a month, as was floated in Tuesday night’s meeting)
– and I very much believe a sizable portion of Lincoln’s residents feel the same
way. That in turn would mean fewer shoppers downtown, less support for local
businesses, and less revenue for the City of Lincoln to best serve its
residents.
Perhaps there’s a way to better partner with downtown businesses to ensure
employees are following the rules for parking? And/or to expand downtown parking
with designated zones for those employees? No matter the solution, there should
be one that’s better than passing yet another cost onto consumers.
- Chris Slaby
Click here to send a note to the editor about this letter.
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