Rome council clarifies downtown 2-hour parking, confirms $2M paving program and outlines parks master plan outreach

Residents at the July 9 Rome Common Council meeting criticized downtown parking rules and asked whether the city still operates a dedicated street-repair program. City officials responded with enforcement details for the two-hour parking zone, confirmed a multi-year paving program awarded this year for about $2,000,000, and outlined an upcoming parks master-plan outreach.

Debbie Goddard, who gave her address as 183 West Dominic Street, told the council it is difficult for residents of downtown apartment buildings to comply with the two-hour parking rule. “It's really difficult in the summertime… I go back into my apartment, and I'm looking at the clock for 2 hours to move my car. And it's a it's a stressful kind of situation,” Goddard said, and described winter plowing problems when a vehicle was left several days and “it wasn't towed away, and they wouldn't plow.”

A city official identified in the transcript as Joe replied that the two-hour limit is “set for business reasons” and said the limit was intended…