By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green City Council is split on putting more parking kiosks downtown. During Monday’s meeting, some wanted to wait before putting any more money into kiosks – while others felt the time for talk had expired.
It started out as a very simple resolution transferring $59,106 in previously appropriated money into a fund to purchase more kiosks.
But council member Bill Herald said that during his door-to-door campaigning, he encountered many citizens who avoided parking in Lot 2 – behind SamB’s and Waddington’s – because of the kiosks.
“The vibe I’m getting from citizens is they aren’t real comfortable with it,” he said. “The feedback I get is people are actually avoiding Lot 2 so they don’t have to deal with the kiosks.”
The city’s first attempt at parking kiosks was in Lot 2 – and proved to be a mixed success, since the type of parking kiosks used there were confusing to many.
So city officials agreed to search for a better type of kiosk that is more user-friendly.
But council member Sandy Rowland joined Herald in questioning if the decision was final to proceed with kiosks in more parking lots downtown.
The business people are concerned, she said. “No one has complained about paying another quarter,” but business owners already feel they are a step behind shops in communities that don’t charge for parking.
In addition to the cost, is the problem that some patrons have of using the kiosks, Rowland said.
“Kiosks terrify people,” she said.
Rowland suggested that the city needs to come up with another way to pay for paving downtown parking lots.
“I acknowledge our parking problems are much bigger than kiosks,” she said. “Let’s talk about this again” before proceeding.
But council member Bruce Jeffers said downtown business owners participated in the process of selecting the new type of kiosks to be used.
“They were satisfied with the plan we came up with,” he said. “I don’t know why we would suddenly get cold feet on this.”
But Herald and Rowland insisted that more discussion was needed. Herald suggested that the new kiosks be installed in Lot 2 and then “let’s see how it goes.”
However, Jeffers said the issue had been decided.
“I’d hate to see us stop midstream. I’d like to go forward,” he said.
But council member John Zanfardino then said he also recalled that some on council had asked for more discussion prior to the actual purchase of more kiosks.
“I know the kiosks we had were universally viewed by the businesses as a real deterrent,” he said, suggesting that council proceed with caution.
Rowland introduced a motion to remove the kiosk purchases from the resolution. Voting to remove the line items were Herald, Rowland and Zanfardino. Voting to move ahead with the fund transfer were Aspacher, Jeffers, Mark Hollenbaugh and Greg Robinette.
After the meeting, Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter said the city won’t proceed with the purchases until further discussion is held.
“The expenditure was approved,” Aspacher said. But “I suspect there will be more discussion.”
Also at the meeting, Herald said several citizens he has spoken with have also expressed concern for downtown businesses, which have suffered during the prolonged construction period downtown. He asked that the city consider extending free parking downtown past the holiday season – perhaps until springtime.
Herald said he realized the extended free parking would cut into the money collected for parking lot improvements. But the free parking could help some businesses stay viable.
“That might be a good trade off,” he said.
Council President Mike Aspacher said he will discuss the free parking extension with the mayor, municipal administrator and city finance director. Aspacher also pointed out that the city started the “parking holiday” early this year to help businesses.
Extending it longer could be problematic.
“Doing so would create considerable stress on our parking fund,” Aspacher said.
Aspacher reminded council that it was agreed to raise the parking rate to help pay for parking lot improvements.
