Safety Committee discusses city parking issues

Parking issues on Johnson Street in the downtown area were discussed at Monday night’s Upper Sandusky Safety Committee meeting.
“The north side of the Party Pak is seemingly dominated by people who work at different county agencies,” said Councilman Rick Roberts, who brought the issue to the committee on behalf of Party Pak owners. “Basically the question is, is there anything we can do to alleviate that situation?”
Roberts suggested possibly putting time limits on some of the parking spaces in the downtown area so they are not occupied all day.
Police Chief David Olds said the move would be a double-edge sword.
“You work down there and you work down there,” Olds said to Councilmen Kyle McColly and Scot Swinehart, both members of the safety committee. “No matter who you are, if you are parked there, you are going to get a ticket.
“That’s basically $5 to $10 parking for them per day,” Olds added. “The usual citation for parking if you pay within 24 hours is $5. If you don’t pay after 24 hours, it’s $10.”
Mayor Scott Washburn said the issue could be resolved with a discussion among everyone involved.
“Go talk to the (county) commissioners or go talk to Job and Family Services and say, ‘Hey, is there any way we can work together?’ Maybe they can work a compromise out,” Washburn said. “… There’s a good chance if they all get in the same room, they can resolve it and come up with a solution.”
“That my be the best solution so they are aware of the problem,” Roberts added. “I think right now, the agency workers probably are not aware that there’s any kind of friction there.”
Olds said Job and Family Services employees utilize their own parking lot.
“They have their own parking area, it’s just not enough for all their employees so they spill out into the street,” Olds said.
In the meantime, McColly suggested Party Pak customers use the Party Pak’s parking lot.
“That business has private parking as well and if their customers aren’t using it, maybe Job and Family services they can use it,” McColly said. “Other than those and city employees, I don’t know who else wants to park there all day.”

By CHANDA NEELY
Staff writer

Posted by Daily Chief on May 8, 2012. Filed under Local News,Recent Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry