MONROE - Monroe's city council won't discuss adding more parking spaces downtown after all.
On Wednesday, Mayor Bill Ross rescinded his approval to put the issue of adding downtown parking spaces on the council's July 20 agenda. At the council meeting Tuesday, Alderman Thurston Hanson asked Ross to put the item on the agenda for full council discussion and Ross agreed.
Hanson said he wanted the issue brought to the full council after the Public Safety Committee voted 3-0 before Tuesday's council meeting to take no action on a request for additional downtown parking.
Nancy Maliszewski, owner of Nancy's Ladies Apparel on 11th Street, brought a petition with 34 signatures of downtown business owners supporting the addition of parking spaces to the committee.
Maliszewski told committee members that she has no parking in front of her store, which is located at the end of a crosswalk. She requested the city approve parking spaces specifically at the mid-block crosswalks areas on the outermost lanes.
The colored and patterned concrete at mid-blocks would serve as decorative aspects of the Square rather than function as crosswalks, she said.
Hanson agreed the issue should be addressed. He called the committee vote "asinine" and said that the issue was "getting buried in committee."
Although Ross initially agreed to Hanson's request, on Wednesday he issued a memo to aldermen that would realign how issues get placed onto the council's agendas. Hanson said since he has been an alderman, starting in April 2006, aldermen had been able to add issues to the agenda simply by asking the mayor or council president.
"I feel very uncomfortable doing a request of this kind," Ross said in his memo. "If the request is not germane to the routine business of the city, I feel that the President of the Council should put forth a motion and get a second under 'Business presented by the Alderpersons.' Only when the vote is taken on that, will we know the feelings of the council as to whether or not to pursue discussion of the issue on the table."
In an interview Wednesday, Ross said he felt the "proper way" was for the president of the council to request additions to the agenda.
Charles Koch, council president and chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said Wednesday he agrees with the mayor's decision, and had planned to discuss the issue with Ross prior to receiving the memo.
Also, Koch said that he would not have honored Hanson's request if he had been asked to make the addition to the agenda.
"I think it (extra parking) was talked about enough at the committee level," he said. "This is not the first time it's been discussed."'
But Hanson has a different view.
"If there are this many people who wanted it, then we should look at it," Hanson said Wednesday, after Ross announced his decision.
On Wednesday, Mayor Bill Ross rescinded his approval to put the issue of adding downtown parking spaces on the council's July 20 agenda. At the council meeting Tuesday, Alderman Thurston Hanson asked Ross to put the item on the agenda for full council discussion and Ross agreed.
Hanson said he wanted the issue brought to the full council after the Public Safety Committee voted 3-0 before Tuesday's council meeting to take no action on a request for additional downtown parking.
Nancy Maliszewski, owner of Nancy's Ladies Apparel on 11th Street, brought a petition with 34 signatures of downtown business owners supporting the addition of parking spaces to the committee.
Maliszewski told committee members that she has no parking in front of her store, which is located at the end of a crosswalk. She requested the city approve parking spaces specifically at the mid-block crosswalks areas on the outermost lanes.
The colored and patterned concrete at mid-blocks would serve as decorative aspects of the Square rather than function as crosswalks, she said.
Hanson agreed the issue should be addressed. He called the committee vote "asinine" and said that the issue was "getting buried in committee."
Although Ross initially agreed to Hanson's request, on Wednesday he issued a memo to aldermen that would realign how issues get placed onto the council's agendas. Hanson said since he has been an alderman, starting in April 2006, aldermen had been able to add issues to the agenda simply by asking the mayor or council president.
"I feel very uncomfortable doing a request of this kind," Ross said in his memo. "If the request is not germane to the routine business of the city, I feel that the President of the Council should put forth a motion and get a second under 'Business presented by the Alderpersons.' Only when the vote is taken on that, will we know the feelings of the council as to whether or not to pursue discussion of the issue on the table."
In an interview Wednesday, Ross said he felt the "proper way" was for the president of the council to request additions to the agenda.
Charles Koch, council president and chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said Wednesday he agrees with the mayor's decision, and had planned to discuss the issue with Ross prior to receiving the memo.
Also, Koch said that he would not have honored Hanson's request if he had been asked to make the addition to the agenda.
"I think it (extra parking) was talked about enough at the committee level," he said. "This is not the first time it's been discussed."'
But Hanson has a different view.
"If there are this many people who wanted it, then we should look at it," Hanson said Wednesday, after Ross announced his decision.