Even the world’s best marksman can’t hit the bull’s-eye if he doesn’t know where to aim. And as Natchez city aldermen discuss the ongoing downtown parking problems at today’s meeting, we hope they consider carefully where to aim.

Recently the idea has surfaced to reactivate an almost 15-year-old defunct city authority in an effort to solve the parking situation.

Apparently some things haven’t changed much since aldermen under the administration of former Mayor Tony Byrne appointed the members of the Downtown Parking Authority in 1983.

One of the biggest parking complaints heard at the time was that downtown employees and merchants parked in prime street spots instead of off-street, private lots.

Hmm. Does that sound familiar to anyone?

It should.

It’s the same lament that’s been heard for years, and one that, despite the best efforts of the original Downtown Parking Authority, still exists today.

What evidence do we have that reforming the committee will get us any closer to a solution?

Call us simplistic, but the solution is simple in concept, although it may be difficult to enforce or manage.

Downtown merchants should want to free up as many spaces in front of their businesses as possible. Empty parking spaces may be the difference between someone shopping at their stories or going to another store that offers ample parking.

Unfortunately no amount of legislation can prevent this. Only an awareness of the problem and perhaps a little downtown merchant peer pressure can end it.

Aldermen should think hard before reforming the old committee to attempt to solve the problem.

The Natchez Downtown Development Association has already formed a committee to work on the parking problems. And its early efforts show some promise. Let’s give them a chance to finish what they’ve started.

We need to do something to make the parking perpetrators want to change their behavior. Forming another committee will likely do little more than waste more time.

Perhaps the Natchez Downtown Development Association, in an effort to levy some public scorn on the perpetrators, could begin a light-hearted campaign of taking photos of parking offenders and distributing them to other downtown business owners.

With such a public bull’s-eye attached to the parking violators, everyone will certainly know where to take aim then.