The lack of good downtown parking has been a problem for years &8212; and no one has yet taken action to fix it.

Too little parking can be a good problem &8212; if it means a lot of people are shopping downtown &8212; but that doesn&8217;t mean we can allow the problem to continue to fester.

It&8217;s ridiculous that in a town heavily dependent on downtown retailers and restaurants that employees blocking the local spots would even be an issue, but sadly it is.

A $3 parking fine &8212; and a part-time officer working the beat &8212; are not nearly enough to deter people from parking where they don&8217;t need to park.

We suggest a sliding scale of ticket costs &8212; maybe $5 if you pay within the first 48 hours, $20 if you don&8217;t. A lot more people will learn their lesson that way.

Employees of downtown businesses are not off base when they complain about the lack of parking, but we all need understand that it makes good business sense to allow your customers first dibs on the best spaces.

Perhaps the payment on tickets would help fund a new parking solution for downtown, whether that&8217;s a garage or a new lot.

Good problem or not, the downtown parking situation is a problem that city officials simply need to solve.