City Councilman Matt Rinker says he thinks downtown parking lots shouldn’t have reserved spaces.
As it currently stands, parking spaces can be rented for twenty four hours seven days a week or from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on week days. Anyone else wanting to park in these spaces must pay an hourly fee.
In a meeting earlier this year, Councilman Jon Billups defended the spaces. He said those spaces guarantee the people who live and work downtown will have the same space regardless of when they arrive.
The Council agreed not to make any changes to the parking lots downtown but what they couldn’t agree on was whether to move on street downtown parking to 3 hour time limits instead of four hour limits.
Billups and Rinker say the change is needed to keep downtown employees from parking in front of businesses, while Mayor Pro-Tem Annie Wilson and Mayor Shane McCampbell say they want to follow the recommendation of the parking committee, who said to keep the parking situation the same.
This means the deciding vote will be Councilwoman Lynda Graham-Murray but she was not in attendance at Monday’s work session.
