Editorial: Second thoughts: If you like downtown Lakeland, give the city an earful on parking

In recent months Lakeland city officials have scratched their collective heads to find a way to improve the parking situation downtown in order to accommodate the area's growing popularity: add spaces by narrowing Massachusetts Avenue, implement a bike-sharing program to reduce the number of cars in the heart of the city, build another parking garage, and, as will be discussed next week, boosting fees for parking violations.

Now, as The Ledger recently reported, they seek public input — a smart move.

On Wednesday, city officials held a “parking summit” in Munn Park to get ideas from the people most affected by the apparent shortage of parking spaces: the citizens who work downtown or visit there regularly. They plan to host two more sessions next Wednesday, at 8 a.m. and at noon, at the offices of LKLDTV, 202 S. Massachusetts Ave.

Angelo Rao, the city's traffic operations manager, told us in an email that about 50 people attended on Wednesday and discussed tiered parking, alternatives such as valets or shuttles, parking for part-time employees, "membership" or “Park ‘n Play” parking, and public-private partnerships.

That aligned with The Ledger's recent report that floated ideas such as instituting parking at the RP Funding Center and shuttling visitors downtown, or charging more to park in front of popular locations.

We hope for something along the lines of the city's innovative deal last year with Trinity Presbyterian Church. The church made 60 parking spaces it owns at East Oak Street and North Tennessee Avenue available for metered parking at the rate of $1 an hour between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and split the revenue with the city.

That emerged after a study found that nearly 4,100 of the 7,150 parking spaces in the city’s core were owned by private entities. We applaud this partnership, and believe similar opportunities still exist.

If you couldn’t make it on Wednesday, plan to attend next week. Officials are genuinely looking for ways to improve this situation — and it needs it. For more information or to register for one of Wednesday's sessions visit www.ldda.org/parking-meetings.

The city is still talking about garages, which will be costly and take considerable time to build. Someone out there may have a resolution that is more cost-effective, timely and fitting with the aesthetics of downtown. But city officials won’t know about it unless you share it.