Time to find a community solution to downtown parking

We applaud Mayor Veronica Smith-Creer for working to establish a downtown parking advisory board, a board she intends to be a diverse collection of individuals with a vested interest in downtown El Dorado (which should be most residents, since downtown is one of our city’s main attractions).

Without a downtown parking attendant, local parking ordinances have been ignored, creating space availability issues for customers attempting to park downtown, according to downtown business and property owners. That’s not a good thing: when people want to come downtown, from either El Dorado, Union County, or from another community, they need to have a place to park.

That being said, there does appear to be enough parking for the average crowd on most days. Some people have said El Dorado doesn’t have a parking problem, it has a walking problem: there’s plenty of parking, if you don’t mind walking a few blocks to your destination.

That may be the case in some instances. But something does need to be done. Some solutions have been suggested: re-installing parking meters, a campaign to encourage downtown visitors to walk, stricter parking ordinance enforcement. Maybe there’s another one that hasn’t been considered yet. What do you think a good solution to downtown parking issues is? Encouraging residents to park in surrounding lots and walk? More rigorous enforcement of parking rules? Or do you have an idea you haven’t heard from anyone else? Email us and let us know what you think.

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We were happy to see the response from community members interested in joining the editorial board. If you’re interested in joining the board, please send an email to cslinkard@eldoradonews.com. Include any relevant biographical information, as well as details about business/organizations you’ve worked for or been involved with. Tell us why you want to join and the role you believe newspapers should play in the community.

The News-Times Editorial Board is comprised by general manager Rita Haldeman and managing editor Caleb Slinkard.