What to do about Monroe's downtown parking ramp: Rebuild it, replace it, fix it, ignore it and hope the problem goes away? The question has prompted years of debate - and study groups, special committees and meetings. Deadlines have come and gone, with the decision postponed each time a group asks the council for more time to look into the downtown parking issue.
And through all the talking in circles and wasted time, the crumbling concrete structure stands as a monument to our elected officials' unwillingness to make a decision. It's been a pathetic display.
Now, Mayor Bill Ross is pushing the Common Council for action. For the Common Council's March 15 meeting, he has asked for a resolution to tear down the downtown parking ramp - which has deteriorated so much that only 169 of 227 parking stalls are available - and build a 72-stall surface parking lot in its place. The price for demolition and construction will come to about $600,000.
In a Feb. 23 memo to aldermen, Ross says, "After five years of meetings, discussion and debate, the city commissioned (a downtown parking study) ... giving us a path forward to resolution."
Ross points to key findings in the most recent parking study that show the city has enough parking downtown without the parking ramp, now and for the future. The study shows that even if 100 percent of available space downtown is occupied, a surface lot will provide sufficient parking.
Ross is right to call for the vote. We wish this call had come about four years ago, and we can't help but wonder if Ross would have taken this stand were he not facing Aldermen Louis Armstrong at the polls next month. Regardless, in the past we've dinged the mayor for not providing more active leadership so we're happy to see him pushing for a resolution to the parking ramp debacle.
We urge aldermen to honor Ross' push for action and vote March 15. Replacing the parking ramp with a surface lot is the best option at this point - it provides enough parking and is a relatively inexpensive fix.
But even a "no" vote to eliminate the surface lot option is better than delaying a decision yet again.
There can be no more delays on this issue, no more studies and no more hand-wringing about implausible scenarios, no more committees and no more meetings that go nowhere.
Council members, do the job you were elected to do and make a decision. Free us of the albatross of indecisiveness that has weighed so heavily around our community's neck for more than a decade.
And through all the talking in circles and wasted time, the crumbling concrete structure stands as a monument to our elected officials' unwillingness to make a decision. It's been a pathetic display.
Now, Mayor Bill Ross is pushing the Common Council for action. For the Common Council's March 15 meeting, he has asked for a resolution to tear down the downtown parking ramp - which has deteriorated so much that only 169 of 227 parking stalls are available - and build a 72-stall surface parking lot in its place. The price for demolition and construction will come to about $600,000.
In a Feb. 23 memo to aldermen, Ross says, "After five years of meetings, discussion and debate, the city commissioned (a downtown parking study) ... giving us a path forward to resolution."
Ross points to key findings in the most recent parking study that show the city has enough parking downtown without the parking ramp, now and for the future. The study shows that even if 100 percent of available space downtown is occupied, a surface lot will provide sufficient parking.
Ross is right to call for the vote. We wish this call had come about four years ago, and we can't help but wonder if Ross would have taken this stand were he not facing Aldermen Louis Armstrong at the polls next month. Regardless, in the past we've dinged the mayor for not providing more active leadership so we're happy to see him pushing for a resolution to the parking ramp debacle.
We urge aldermen to honor Ross' push for action and vote March 15. Replacing the parking ramp with a surface lot is the best option at this point - it provides enough parking and is a relatively inexpensive fix.
But even a "no" vote to eliminate the surface lot option is better than delaying a decision yet again.
There can be no more delays on this issue, no more studies and no more hand-wringing about implausible scenarios, no more committees and no more meetings that go nowhere.
Council members, do the job you were elected to do and make a decision. Free us of the albatross of indecisiveness that has weighed so heavily around our community's neck for more than a decade.
