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Resident objects to proposed paid parking permits near Blue Star State College
Summary
At the Sept. 8 Lewiston City Council meeting, resident Jacqueline Forsman urged the council to oppose a plan she said would permit Blue Star State College to issue paid-parking permits for public street spaces near her home; she asked where permit revenue would go and said she opposed the proposal.
At the Lewiston City Council meeting on Sept. 8, 2025, Jacqueline Forsman, a resident of 7th Avenue, told the council she opposed a reported plan to institute paid parking permits in residential streets near Blue Star State College.
Forsman said she saw an announcement in the local paper about a “movement to put paid parking” that would let permit-holders — she said the permit would come from the college — park across the street from her home. “Where does that money go? The college gets it?” she asked, and added, “It’s a public street. My taxes pay for that. I’m opposed to this.”
The Presiding Officer — who opened the meeting and explained the citizen comment rules — told residents that comments specifically about fees would be taken at the public hearing on that agenda item, and encouraged speakers to introduce themselves for the record. The council limited public comments to three minutes and invited candidates in the audience to identify themselves and their city of residence.
The council did not take a vote on the issue during the citizen comment period recorded in the transcript. The matter of fees and any proposed permit program was presented as an item to be addressed at the scheduled public hearing on fees; the transcript does not specify the date for that hearing or how any permit revenue would be allocated.
Forsman’s remarks represent a neighborhood concern about whether a college-issued permit program would alter parking access on public streets and whether permit fees would benefit a private institution or another entity. The council’s response in the recorded segments was procedural (directing fees discussion to the public hearing) and provided no further detail on the proposal or on revenue allocation.
