The Coeur d’Alene City Council heard nearly unanimous opposition to its recent parking rate hikes Tuesday night through a swarm of dissenters flooding the proceedings with what amounted to a de facto filibuster.

City Council meetings typically begin with a roll call, invocation and pledge of allegiance before turning the microphones over to the spare resident wishing to voice a random concern not on the evening’s agenda. Tuesday’s proceedings were neither spare nor random, as between 60 and 70 people from the area packed the Library’s Community Room on Front Street to call on their elected officials to rescind a recent rate hike near all city’s parks.

Rumors circulated online through social media for nearly a month that those opposing the new parking fees would produce pitchforks Tuesday as a sign of unity. The pitchforks never materialized. What did appear, however, was an organized, unified front denouncing the May 1 price increase. With three minutes allotted per speaker, the public comments portion of the meeting ran nearly two hours long.

Keith Boe, moderator of the Facebook group North Idaho Life and it’s 59,000-plus members, led the charge as the initial speaker, where he asked the crowd behind him for of show of hands to answer the question, “Who would like local, free two-hour parking returned to our city?”

A sea of outstretched hands raised in support of his proposal.

“When local, free two-hour parking was eliminated at this prime tourist locations,” he continued, “it felt like the parks were taken away from us and given to the tourists. It feels like they were stolen. It feels like we’re not welcome anymore in our own town.”

In particular, Boe and others lamented rate hikes near McEuen Park and Independence Point, as well as general concerns about prices throughout the City.

“I believe in equal access,” Boe told City Council. “The parks belong to — and were created for — the people of Coeur d’Alene ... There should be equal access for rich poor, short, fat, young, old, healthy and disabled, those burdened carrying small children and those who can’t walk great distances or are on a fixed income, regardless of their ability to pay.”

Council member Dan Gookin celebrated the turnout and urged the City to respond. “I do think that, given the public pressure, I think we could consider other things,” he said. “I don’t think the public is happy with it, and I think I would be in favor of reviewing the parking fee situation ... Maybe having all these people here would lend its support to some of my peers, but I would be entirely in favor to looking at reviewing free parking at McEuen or consistent parking fees.”

Appearing with her young child, Skyla Stamsos of Coeur d’Alene spoke of the importance of standing up.

“I was raised in a family that, if you want your voice spoken, you better speak up,” she said, “because no one’s going to do it for you, which is why we’re here tonight.”

Stamsos gave perhaps the most impassioned plea of the evening, telling the Council the sentiment she felt drove so many people to Tuesday’s meeting as she wept.

“The thing is, it’s not just the fees,” she said. “It’s not just that. I was raised here, and there has been so much change, and I think that’s part of why we’re so upset. We don’t feel heard. We don’t feel like you guys are being just and fair, and that’s not OK to us. Everything in our city is changing, and we have to adapt to it so fast ... And I have to raise my children differently because of it.”

Reasons for opposition actually ran the gamut, from a perceived conflict of interest for a private company — Diamond Parking out of Seattle — issuing and profiting from citations, to the elderly and disabled unable to walk from distant parking spots toward the parks, to factors outside the Coeur d’Alene area deciding locals’ fates.

“[Coeur d’Alene] is a living dream,” Shantel Daley, a California transplant now living in Coeur d’Alene, testified. “... It was the way the locals are, and they way people are that have been here forever, and that the way they look you in the eye, and they really want to know about your day ... Coming here with my kids, going to the beautiful lake, not having to pay, it, like, oh, so exciting for me, because you know where I’m from, where they just pay for everything. And everyone is used to that when they come here from a big city. They’re used to just paying and paying.”

Roger Garlock of Coeur d’Alene urged the Council to heed Gookin’s call for the parking issue to be re-addressed as he explained his concerns.

“I think of the promises made by City government,” Garlock said. “... As one of those locals, you feel isolated from downtown. We want to appreciate this part of Coeur d’Alene as much as anybody, but I already feel isolated from downtown.”

Tuesday’s comments will be organized and handed to the Parking Commission, which will then decide whether the Council should re-address the issue or not. Gookin said he was confident the matter would make its way back to Council.

“Yes, a future council can raise parking fees again,” Gookin said. “As long as you are active citizens, and you come and you tell Council what you want, that won’t happen.

“You hope it won’t happen,” he added quickly and quietly.

He was not alone in recognizing the audience’s concerns.

“There’s this specific parking issue and the money,” Council Member Dan English said, “but I think a lot of what’s being expressed is bigger than that. It’s growth ... There is a lot of general anxiety about the growth, and I’m sure all of us feel it. I certainly do.”