Mayor vs. Council . . . Again

On Wednesday, the Common Council Legal Committee voted unanimously (of those present) to move forward the plan to introduce resident parking permits in the area around Columbia Memorial Hospital. This was reported yesterday in the Register-Star: "Legal committee OKs bigger parking plan." Today, the Register-Star reports that the mayor has announced he will oppose the revisions made to the plan, originally his, by the Legal Committee: "Mayor, committee vie on parking plans."

The mayor takes issue with the additional streets included in the plan by the Legal Committee, maintaining that these "were not part of the problem." According to the article, "Hallenbeck said the extended area covered by the plan 'causes a problem for the hospital, not to have any [on-street] parking for its employees.'"

On Wednesday, Claudia DeStefano, who lives on McKinstry Place and has been closely monitoring the progress of this law, even though, as she regularly reminds the Legal Committee, it doesn't affect her because she has a driveway, observed that "the scope of the area is humongous from the original" and wanted to know why. Alderman John Friedman, who chairs the Legal Committee, explained, "Exporting a problem from one area to another doesn't solve the problem," and pointed out that the affected area now extends "two blocks in all directions" from the hospital.
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