City of Princeton issued the following announcement on July 18.
It’s looking like changes will soon be made to six parking spots on South Main Street in Princeton.
The city council on Monday voted 3-2 to eliminate the four diagonal parking spaces that line the street from Kramer’s Kitchen north to the intersection of Peru Street and convert four diagonal parking spots in front of the Prouty Building to two parallel parking spots.
To make up for the loss of parking, the city plans to repaint the spaces behind the Prouty Building to make them diagonal, which will allow for more parking spots in that lot.
Council members Ray Mabry and Hector Gomez voted “no” for this plan.
Gomez said he believes business owners did not have a say in the decision.
“Knowing they are a business here and they provide tax money and services here for the city of Princeton, I believe their opinion is valuable,” he said.
Mabry said after talking with building owners, he believes this change is going to negatively impact the businesses on the east side of South Main Street near the intersection of Peru Street.
“I just think 20 years ago we probably would have went and knocked on the business owners’ doors before we would have brought this to the council for discussion. It’s a different Main Street. It doesn’t mean it’s wrong. I just think we want to respect those building owners. They are in the trenches every day trying to get business to come through their door,” he said.
Princeton Mayor Joel Quiram, who proposed this new parking plan to the council at the July 1 meeting, said the main reason for the change is due to the increased traffic in Princeton from tourist shoppers. He said the Princeton commercials currently airing in the Quad Cities are attracting more shoppers from the western part of the state.
“This is about safety. This is a safety issue,” he said. “For me, logic dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of a few. In this case, maybe two or three people.”
Mabry brought up a concern of not having pedestrian sidewalks that lead from behind the Prouty Building to the sidewalks on South Main Street. He said some times it can be a safety concern with motorists and pedestrians trying to get through the alleyways between the Prouty Building and Kramer’s Kitchen and between the other side of the Prouty Building and the front lawn of the Frontier building.
Before any parking changes are made, the council has to pass a second and final reading of an ordinance. The council will vote at its next meeting on Monday, Aug. 5. The changes will be on a three-month trial basis before being made permanent.
“After three months, if it’s not working out, maybe we could add a couple parking spots in front of those businesses,” Mabry suggested, referring to businesses near the intersection of South Main and Peru streets.
Original source can be found here.
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