Parking Pains in Easton
Given the recent discussion on parking in the Downtown with the recent installation of concrete barriers for the Al Fresco dining program, I thought it would be fitting to describe some of my encounters with parking and the solutions I envision for our City moving forward. Given the temperature of the current campaign alongside my opponent, I figure it would be prudent to openly display the parking tickets I received over the past 10 years. The scrolling image below shows 28 pages of information related to cars I own/owned and their associated parking tickets. And yes, you will see a status such as VOID, which may indicate some nefarious behavior on my part and will likely be used to tarnish my image in the coming days. A simple Right to Know Request filed through our Police Department will provide you with these results. The images are unedited and are present for you to view.
Back to the issue of parking and how we can help with the problem of actually finding a spot or making due with what we currently have (minus the unfinished 4th Street Garage of course). My priority is our residents and their ability to live in the City and not fight with visitors, who seek to enjoy the many opportunities we have for dining and entertainment.
Some Ideas to Fix the Parking Problem
- Make our residents a priority with regards to parking
- LISTEN TO RESIDENTS
- Create a tiered level parking system that allows for residents to have options
- Develop designated areas for residents to park during the times they are likely to be home
- Streamline the parking permit process
- Improve signage throughout the City to properly direct visitors where to park
- IMPROVE COMMUNICATION
Listening to Residents
The key to being successful as a Mayor, is to listen and hear other ideas on how we can improve any aspect of our City. My priority is to make sure our residents are taken care of by giving them an opportunity to be heard. For the longest time, we have listened to a single voice who is known to make illegal executive orders barring the police department from issuing downtown parking permits. This is the sign of a person who clearly has no desire to hear from residents. We can do better and my platform stands on listening to our residents and finding out what the best solutions are for our City moving forward.
