MASON CITY – Third ward city councilman Don Nelson has proposed some changes to a controversial downtown parking policy.
“I received a call from downtown merchants about their customer being ticketed ($15.00 per ticket) for being parked in the alley, reserved for the Park Inn residents,” Nelson write in a letter to his fellow council and Mayor Eric Bookmeyer.
“In one case, the individual stopped, parking in the reserved parking for the Park Inn to tour the new Park Inn, had lunch downtown and received a $15.00 parking ticket,” Nelson continued.
Nelson said that the Park Inn “doesn’t require all the parking spaces (19+) alloted to them.”
Recently, NorthIowaToday.com has received letters complaining about the parking spaces just west of the Park Inn. One was from Adam Gold of Mason City, and the other was from Tony Gulick, also from Mason City.
Nelson proposed the following solution to the problem. “Could we install signs to limit each vehicle permitted to park in the area assigned to the Park Inn, say a two hour limit?”
Nelson said he hopes a compromise between the city and the Park Inn can be worked out, “resolved to the satisfaction of both downtown area merchants and the Park Inn.”
