PARKING: Puts brakes on visitors

I have sent the following letter to the owners of the parking lot at 101 Northwest Boulevard. It outlines the problems I had with it the last time I visited Coeur d’Alene. It makes me not want to come back. I avoid taking my car to downtown Spokane for the same reasons. There I can ride my bicycle. It’s not always possible to ride to Coeur d’Alene. The city should take it over or make the owner make the necessary changes to make it more user friendly.

Your lot in Coeur d’Alene is not properly posted. It should be made obvious before anyone even enters your lot that it is a fee parking lot so they don’t go there. To come back several hours later and find that we were “fined” for not leaving a fee when we were not adequately made aware that we owed a fee is extortion. You need to fix this. You need better signage. You need more signage. And they need to be well lit at night. You need signs on both sides of every entrance and a metal sign on a metal pole in front of every parking slot where it can’t be missed.

The proximity of your lot to a public park and a popular resort makes it appear that it is public parking. Perhaps it needs to be surrounded with barriers and fencing topped with razor wire so that it is clear that it is private property.

CHARLES O. GREENWOOD

Spokane