JohnA: Leave downtown parking alone
JohnA provides good perspective on the way parking is handled in downtown Coeur d'Alene:
We created the policy in 1991 when the meters were removed for the upgrade to Sherman and Lakeside. I was the staff liaison to the first Parking Commission and we worked with the Downtown Association to tweak the whole thing until it was a nice new fit for downtown.
It has worked very well for many, many years and that's because the enforcement is reliable, and effective (that's Diamond on the enforcement contract, which saved the city thousands by replacing the city's Parking Enforcement Officer, who transferred to another job.)
Especially now with the free all day parking at the lot south of city hall, and the monthly pass for the McEuen Parking Garage, there is no reason for employees to do the two-hour shuffle. I always park at city hall because I don't mind a stroll across the new McEuen Park anyway.
I agree with Eden that it would be nice to have the controlled access at McEuen, like when Diamond ran it before. It actually paid for itself because the paying public came to them, rather than the current method of patrolling the lot looking
for those parked over two hours.
Two-hour free parking is a great downtown feature and I'd hate to see them end it.