City has turned parking into a profit center

Mr. Ben Tate asked some great questions of our City Council regarding parking enforcement on March 4. He got the honest response from Mayor Carrie Logan: Diamond Parking is only doing what the council told them to do — aggressively fine all visitors (and locals trying to shop or eat downtown) at any opportunity, with absolutely no warnings issued or exceptions made.

In other words, our city has turned parking into a profit center. Forget that we don’t really even have a parking problem for nine or 10 months per year. There is revenue for the city to harvest.

Sorry to inform Mr. Tate of this fact, but the council really doesn’t consider whether this enforcement hurts every business in the downtown district. Whether a visitor ever visits again is not given consideration. They just want your taxes — or else.

When it comes to an issue like this, that affects a limited group of businesses, the council never seems to solicit any input from them prior to a vote. This was pushed through during the holidays with little discussion and no warning. One upset person recently received a ticket while shopping for less than 20 minutes. Her only recourse was to get letters from the shopkeepers confirming her timeline and pray for absolution. Who wants to go through that just to “shop local?”

Of course the Sandpoint Business Improvement District, which invoices us whether we have any snow or not, didn’t even bother to speak at either meeting. Isn’t that representation what we supposedly pay for with our BID taxes? There must have been a chamber ribbon-cutting in Clark Fork …

I keep trying to understand the big picture from the council’s perspective. Short of two cars parking end-to-end to block First Avenue, I just can’t imagine what a parked vehicle can do to draw a $100 fine. I walk downtown nearly every day at varied times. The only time I observe a true parking shortage is on summer weekend evenings during an event, when our parking statutes don’t apply — makes sense to someone I guess.

The basic question here is:

“Holy mother, how can our city turn every basic need into a rationed commodity and profit center?” The basic need might be parking, drinking water, snow removal or soon to join the list — wastewater. There is no shortage of good water here, nor is there a parking problem 75 percent of the time. This is simply another attempt to create a market shortage where one does not exist to make room for another tax. Our council is nothing if not consistent.

P.S. “Holy mother” was Mr. Tate’s choice of words, not mine.

CAL OGLE

Sandpoint