Parking paradise? Well, almost

We Americans love our cars, and we have a God-given right to park them wherever and whenever we want. It’s in the Constitution, isn’t it?

Countless parking studies and discussions have uncovered several other universal truths, at least as far as the hub of Kootenai County — downtown Coeur d’Alene — is concerned.

1. People want to park within 6 feet of the store or business they intend to visit. Motorists have been observed circling blocks for lengthy periods of time, waiting for just the right spot to open.

2. People don’t want to pay to park. Ever. If they can get away with not paying, they will.

3. People who work downtown lose no sleep in taking up parking spaces that otherwise would be used by drivers wanting to spend their money here. Downtown employees are punctual, if nothing else; they will move their vehicles every 1 hour 59 minutes. (See No. 2 above.) And yes, they’ll park as close to their place of employment as possible.

While it still needs city approval and some significant blanks filled in, Kootenai County and the city of Coeur d’Alene are on the right track toward solving at least part of the downtown parking predicament. The county hopes to pay $1.3 million for a parking lot just west of its main campus, across Northwest Boulevard and just north of the new parking lot the city’s just finishing up. Weekdays, the 146 new spaces would be a boon to county employees who can park close to work and, thanks to traffic signals that would be put in, safely cross the busy boulevard. At night and weekends, visitors would find a great place to park their rigs and visit City Park, downtown dining establishments and more.

What do we like about the proposed lot? A lot.

For one, it would be paid for from existing funds, so a tax hike won’t be needed. For another, it would make for safer and more efficient access to county facilities by county employees. For another, it would be one heck of a lot cheaper and less obtrusive than a massive concrete garage and/or an overpass or underpass for Northwest Boulevard, thanks to the traffic lights.

Studies have concluded that downtown is 221 parking spaces short of what’s needed. Adding the proposed lot to the one the city is just finishing up, the parking deficit will essentially be wiped out.

This doesn’t mean the downtown parking dilemma will vanish. See No. 1 and No. 3 above. But as Coeur d’Alene city spokesman Sam Taylor noted Wednesday, Terry Cooper and the Downtown Association — with cooperation from downtown employees — sold 206 parking permits in June. Those are important because they move employees’ vehicles off the streets and into the parking structure at McEuen Park.

Here’s hoping the Coeur d’Alene City Council can find a way to make this plan work. Then maybe they can lobby to have it added to the Constitution.