MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake City Council got an earful at its regular meeting Tuesday night, as owners and employees of downtown businesses expressed their feelings about the two-hour parking limit in the city’s center.

“The problem at its core isn't the amount of time people spend down here but the lack of spaces available and there's a lack of spaces available because it was designed like that,” said Alicia West, who works at Settler’s Country Market on Third Avenue. “I remember when the city changed all the downtown area to purposely encourage people to park and walk and have to go by as many businesses as possible, as well as keeping people active while going to and from their vehicles. That was a long time ago, and I don't feel like there was enough thought put into how much we would grow and thrive.”

The catalyst for the concern was an announcement last week by the Moses Lake Police Department that, in response to complaints it had received, it would start issuing warnings to people who parked too long in two-hour spaces.

“Our city has progressively grown and grown and grown exponentially in the last 10 years,” said Mickenzie McIntyre, a stylist at Eden Salon who said she’s lived in Moses Lake her entire life. “The available parking spaces in downtown eliminate more revenue for downtown, and our city as a whole. As a business owner, and employee and a consumer, you don't want to have to park for only two hours and then get a ticket (that costs) $35 to buy milk, bread and eggs. That's the cost of a parking ticket for parking past two hours. In the five years I have worked downtown, it has never been enforced. And yet, in the last week and a half, we've been giving a warning, basically a threat, that it is going to be now enforced.”

The MLPD has not been issuing parking tickets, nor was it planning to, said Moses Lake Police Chief David Sands. 

“It was never about enforcement,” Sands said. “The most was a warning notice. A warning notice is a piece of paper saying ‘This is the statute, and you would be found potentially in violation, but we're asking you to be mindful of it.’”

While shoppers downtown can often be in and out of a parking spot within two hours, the situation is different for people who work there, West said.

“The two-hour time limit not only hurts the customers but us employees as well,” she said. “Which is the other issue with working women, business owners and employees. While they definitely need to continue to be respectful of the customers for their own businesses, and the clientele of our neighbors, we still need to have parking available for us … (The public parking at) City Hall is pretty far away for us to walk to our downtown businesses for a lot of us. Also, walking back to our vehicles when it's dark is not a safe option. There's a lot of scary people out there these days.”

“A lot of women are nervous about walking downtown when it gets dark,” agreed Mary Davenport, owner of Stella & Me. “My alley’s light has been out for years. I don't know if that's the city or the PUD; I’m not quite sure. But if we have proper lighting people maybe won't be so nervous to walk a block or two away.”

“Do you think there’s a perception here that people don’t want to walk more than a block to shop?” asked Mayor Dustin Swartz.

“I know that the ladies that park in front of my store and Sue’s (Gift Boutique), I know their cars are going to be parked there for a bit because they're also going to go to Red Door,” Davenport said. “And then they probably have lunch and their prayer group meetings or whatever, and then they come back. I know eventually they're going to come into my store and shop with me. I'm not upset about that. It's just frustrating because everybody is complaining about it, but no one can have a proper solution to this problem.”

The council has scheduled a study session March 26 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the matter further, Downtown Moses Lake Association Director Mallory Miller told the Columbia Basin Herald.

Joel Martin may be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.