Board of Aldermen establishes Parking Commission

Driving around until someone gives up a parking spot on the Square may be less of a problem in the future.
The Board of Aldermen started a major change in traffic with the introduction of a new commission that will focus on the city’s parking issues.
An ordinance establishing the Downtown Parking Advisory Commission had it’s first reading at Tuesday’s regular board meeting.
According to the ordinance, the purpose and function of the Downtown Parking Advisory Commission will be to make recommendations to the Board of Aldermen to approve concerning parking policy, plan and design parking structures, create parking rates and contact private parking providers.
The introduction of the Commission comes after several months of decision making on the matter and years of work on the city’s parking situation.
“This has been a multi-year task,” Mayor George “Pat” Patterson said. “This is meant as no criticism to any of our organizations, but we simply have to get more organized on this.”
The city hired a consultant for advice on the problem this summer.
The solution came from studies done on the traffic policies of Tacoma, Wash., which had similar issues involving downtown parking and fixed the problem by creating a Stake Holder Committee built of community members that made decisions on parking.
The City of Oxford is following in line with the Downtown Parking Advisory Commission.
Actions would be paid for by fines and fairs generated by the committee and other city parking funds. The key will be to evoke public trust through transparency.
The commission is still in the process of being created and is subject to several changes between now and implementation.