Owner Announces New Policy for Downtown Parking Lot

For months, leaving your car in the Bank of America parking lot on East Washington and Kentucky streets was a scary proposition. Starting last September, owner Elias Husary posted “No Parking” signs in the lot and was vigorously towing cars of drivers who had failed to heed the warning or simply hadn’t noticed it.

Petaluma residents and visitors to downtown responded with a flurry of calls to the Petaluma Downtown Association and comments on Petaluma Patch, asking for the situation to be corrected.

Now it has been, and starting this month parking will once again be allowed in the lot. But there’s a caveat: drivers will have to pay $2 per hour or $5 for the whole night to leave their cars at the downtown location.

“I received a lot of emails and calls from people who wanted something that was partial,” says Husary. “No one wanted to purchase a monthly permit, so I worked with the Petaluma Downtown Association to reach this compromise.”

A new parking meter—that accepts coins, debit and credit cards, but not cash—has been installed near the entrance to Bank of America. There will also be a security guard who will verify that drivers have paid to park on the spot. And if they haven’t, you can pretty much be assured that your car will be getting towed.

Husary said his decision to tow cars from the lot was based on protecting himself from liabilities since downtown partiers often left broken bottles, trash and even vomit on his lot. In November, Husary stopped towing cars, he said, after being asked to not enforce his no-parking policy by Marie McCusker, president of the Petaluma Downtown Association.

Do you think the parking meter in the lot is a fair solution? Sound off in the comments below.