Membership has its privileges

As I was admiring the newly painted curbs and parking stripes downtown, something else new caught my eye. It seems City Hall has sprouted new parking signs. Obviously, parking must be a problem there since the mayor has installed signs designating parking spots. Closest to City Hall is a space reserved for his honor, next to that is a space for the Clerk Treasurer and then a couple of generically labeled spots for employees.

Now, I have been down to City Hall to do business under several administrations, and I have never seen an issue where parking was so bad you had to walk more than a few feet. But for some reason, our mayor has decided he needs to make sure no one parks in his space. When was the last time parking was an authentic issue?

I am sure the cost of the signs was minimal; it is not the issue alone that makes me tilt my head. It just seems you have small hierarchical moves: Cameron Memorial Drive with new canopy at the police station; parking spots for specific people; they just seem like position markers and extravagances we could have done without. My biggest problem is not the cost, but the image it portrays. All of a sudden the Mayor has to mark his territory like a dog by marking his own official parking space. I know this is not a larger-than-life issue, but it does seem to unveil a paradox.

On one hand you have a person who ran as the “common man” but since being in office, he has done much to differentiate himself from the common man. Maybe the word is “elitist”; this just seems to be an odd attitude that this “Mayor of the People” now seems to recently be showing. And while it may just be perception that there is something wrong here, in this town, perception is reality.

Now for some questions:

1. Was it this Mayor or the next who ordered the signs erected?

2. Should we have two mayor parking signs?

3. Does calling out the Mayors vehicle to anyone driving by present a security risk to His Honor? I mean if RPD tires can be slashed in the parking lot at RPD, what is to keep someone from messing with the Mayor’s vehicle?

4. Should every city employee get a special parking space in town?

5. Should there be a special parking place for the fire truck during Council Meetings?

6. With the passing of Michael Jackson and our current mayoral irony---should you hum “Ebony and Ivory” as you mull over your blog comments?

Comments

[bill]

seems he is acting like a democrat

[Quit]

I agree with Rodney

[Jim Huston]

Oh, well. Give a little man a little power...

[G Whiz]

I wonder if Rodney actually read the story. The author stated it was a small thing, but it foreshadowed bigger subjects. It is interesting that this Mayor of the people has felt it necessary to do what no other mayor has felt the need to....He granted himself his own parking place. Why? Afraid of exercise? Afraid people may not recognize him without a sign (that may be why he had to have a sign on the side of the car he rode on in the parade)? Reserving your own parking space, may be a small thing, but why was it necessary? When will the people realize the emperor has not clothes?

[Just Sayin]

Wasn't the mayor just looking for handouts or donations from the school board, the Loma Apartments and other private citizens? I wonder if those people will see the signs and wonder why the city needs a handout....

[Skippy]

I just saw the budget. Somehow I think the signs are now the least of our cities problems. Just wait until the latest round of creative financing gets approved.