There’s an election for St. Joseph City Commission next month, and perhaps the biggest issue will be paid parking.
After the city’s unpopular rollout of a paid parking program downtown back in May, and its later suspension, we’ve chatted with all six candidates for city commission to learn their positions on the issue.
Newcomer Lisa Vetne told us she’d prefer not to have paid parking, but if the city is going to have it, it should be limited.
“I’m going to lean on my experiences in tribal government,” Vetne said. “It’s good to ease into things, to get people to get used to change because some people don’t like change. So, maybe start with a smaller scale, maybe just a section or two and then roll it out.”
Commissioner Michael Sarola, running for reelection, told us it’s clear more review is needed, and he doesn’t think most business owners support the parking program.
“I think the pushback was more significant than anybody really could have anticipated,” Sarola said. “So, it was paused, suspended for the season, its future yet to be determined.”
Ryan Katowich, running for the first time, told us he got into the race because of the issue. Would he support ending the pause?
“I would not,” Katowich said. “I think that would be a big mistake. To be honest, I think that the business owners in the downtown area have their challenges, and parking shouldn’t be one of them. At the very least, it needed to be rolled out in a lot better, lot different way. I don’t think any resident of the county should ever pay for parking.”
Candidate Tom Jennings told us he was sad to see the lack of civility directed at commissioners over the issue, but more could be said about the issue at hand.
“Sometimes, you’re better off not doing anything than doing something wrong,” Jennings said. “Easy for me to say. I wasn’t involved in those decisions, I’m not on the commission. I have immunity in that regard, but I could have told them it wasn’t going to work.”
Commissioner Michael Fernandez, seeking reelection, said the roll out didn’t go well and the city could do a better job explaining the paid parking program and how it helps.
“When you understand, hey, that dollar that you contribute, by having to pay the dollar, it’s part of a system where we’re actually getting better turnover in the downtown,” Fernandez said. “And when you want a space…you can actually find a space now, versus you couldn’t find a space [before].”
Of course, Fernandez said everyone would prefer free parking.
Candidate Kim Jorgensen Gane tells us if there’s going to be a paid parking program moving everyone to the east side of Main Street, there should be better pedestrian crossings. As a downtown resident, she’s seen unsafe crossings. Would she vote for the rogram?
“You can’t push parking across Main Street without giving people a safe way to get to the beach, to get to the business district,” Jorgensen Gane said. “So I can’t see myself, because that is just something that for more than 10 years that we’ve lived in that house that I have watched.”
The paid parking applied only to the west side of Main Street and was intended to free up spaces in that area. The program was also expected to generate revenues the city could use for improvements downtown, in particular to the parking lots. After an uproar from residents, paid parking was suspended over the summer at least until next year.
It’s not yet known if the program will be brought back.
The election for city commission will be November 4. Three of the six candidates will be elected.
