By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com

Bucyrus businesses are breathing a small sigh of relief now that a harsh light is being shined upon the issue of downtown parking.

That was the message Chris Gasuras, owner of Little Athens Greek Restaurant, told the Bucyrus City Council members during their joint committee meeting Thursday night.

“I had a rash of phone calls yesterday from business owners from South Sandusky and North Sandusky,” said Gasuras. “They were thanking me for bringing it up.”

Gasuras sent a letter to the City Council Tuesday night that detailed proposals he had to help alleviate parking in the 200 and 300 blocks of North Sandusky Avenue. He suggested establishing 15-minute parking spots in front of his restaurant for his carry-out options and expanding parking on Mary Street.

“What we’re looking at here is to just try to make it easier for your customers to get in and out. That whole area down there is busy,” Mayor Jeff Reser said as he gestured toward a map of downtown Bucyrus. “When we have parking issues, those are good issues to have – that means we have people that want to get in those buildings.”

Reser nixed the idea of 15-minute parking, pointing out that the short time limit would not be beneficial to other businesses on the street. Rather, he presented a plan to put in nine parking spaces back on the north side of Mary Street.

“You can more than double the spaces there on Mary Street,” Reser said, explaining that Zoning Administrator John Rostash mapped out the proposal with parking extending back to Walnut Street. He added that the additional parking will still allow for 10-foot wide lanes as suggested by the National Association of City Transportation Officials.

Gasuras asked whether or not there was a two-hour parking limit in downtown, which Reser confirmed there was, but added that there was no way for the city to police it. He said the bigger issue was the fact that the people abusing the time limit are ones that should know better.

“The people that are parking more than two hours are not shoppers; they tend not to be patrons of these businesses. They tend to be people that run the business, the people that work in the business that know better,” said Reser, who owns Lee’s Comfort Shoes in the 100 block of South Sandusky Avenue.

Reser said the only way to enforce the two-hour limit was to have a police officer walking the Sandusky Avenue beat and chalking tires, an option he wasn’t too keen on.

“A policeman’s time is valuable. To chalk tire – it’s not an efficient time for a police force,” Reser said. “We don’t have the budget for a meter maid.”

He offered to help keep the downtown area clear of employee parking by stopping by and reminding businesses that the parking spaces are not supposed to be used that way.

Council member Steve Pifer countered Reser’s stance, arguing that enforcing parking was part of what the city paid its police officers to do.

“I think a stern talking to is not going to stop these people from parking on the street when they shouldn’t be,” Pifer said. “However, a ticket, once you hit them in the wallet – then they’ll find another place to park.”

“The people who lose with tickets are the merchants,” Reser argued. “When people get a ticket they take it out on the merchants.”

Two-hour limit parking signs were, at one time, scattered along the streets, but were never returned once the Sandusky Avenue project was completed. Some of the council members wondered why the signs never went back up and whether the city still had the signs.

“I’ve got the 300 block if you guys are broke,” Gasuras quipped.

“I don’t understand why we don’t put the signs up. We got it (the law) on the books. The people don’t want to park there longer than two hours if they’re informed,” said council member Bruce Truka. “All the citizens of Bucyrus, if they were informed there was two-hour parking, they wouldn’t park there longer than two hours. So we put them on the decorative posts – who cares?”

“It’s not like we need a sign on every light post in town,” Pifer added.

“If it’s posted, I’ve got a fighting chance,” Gasuras said. “It’s not the customers; it’s to make sure the employees (don’t) park there all day. If we all parked on the street that have businesses downtown, Bucyrus would be closed.”

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