The parking issue that must be resolved in connection with construction of a new county prison would have been nonexistent if the county commissioners had selected Sunnyview Farm as the site for the new lockup, rather than the compact urban area below the current prison.

The decision to build the prison downtown presents numbers challenges and an assortment of related considerations that must be evaluated carefully before a final accord is put in place as to how many prison parking spaces there will be, and for whom.

That the issue is commanding plenty of attention was apparent at last week's meeting of the Butler Planning and Zoning Commission, with the commission eventually tabling a request by the county for approval to provide fewer parking spaces for the new prison than what the city's off-street parking ordinance would require.

Regardless of how that is resolved by the commission and, ultimately, the city council, a troubling attitude about the county government and parking that has been festering for some time surfaced once again. It is an attitude that deserves a rethinking, no matter how many prison spaces are agreed upon or dictated by the city in the weeks ahead.

The questionable attitude is that the county owes the city significant involvement in resolving the city's overall parking problems, by virtue of the fact that there are so many county workers in the city during the regular business day. Of the county's approximately 800 employees, just under 500 work in the downtown, according to the county's personnel office.

Joe Caparosa, a commission member, was among those resurrecting the attitude in question at last week's meeting, when he referred to the limited parking in the Diamond Street area. It was Caparosa who moved to table the prison parking issue purportedly so the commission could learn more about what the county might be willing to offer to help the city's overall parking problems - problems that he said have been created, in part, by the county government.

Rather than embracing the notion that the county owes the city anything for having its offices and so many workers downtown, the city government and its various agencies should be thankful that such a scenario is in place. They should contemplate how different the downtown would be without the life and vibrancy that the county operations provide.

Some city businesses are able to exist only because of the traffic they receive from the courthouse and government center.

If the county offices were gone, there would be a glut of unused parking, not vice versa.

The city council's shoddy handling of the parking issue involving Morgan Center is another projection of the attitude directed toward the county. Businessman William Morgan, who pays one of the city's biggest tax bills, if not the biggest, has met too much resistance over his efforts to obtain additional nearby parking for people working in his modern building, which serves as a wonderful beacon on the city's skyline.

That resistance has projected the message that Morgan owes the city something for the business operations and workers that his building houses when, instead, the city ought to be trying to accommodate his needs so he can keep his businesses tenants.

Granted, the county and Morgan should be expected to work with the city on questions surrounding parking needs and availability. However, it is the city and its agencies that have the ultimate responsibility to meet needs and accommodate those who are the downtown's lifeblood, without injecting unnecessary roadblocks, as the city seems so adept at doing.

Last week's planning and zoning commission meeting was an excellent environment for positive discourse to prevail. Instead, the county was cast with the image of bogeyman regarding the downtown's parking limitations.

It is time that this city realize and acknowledge that the real bogeymen are those who ignore the city's overall well-being as issues come before them.

- J.R.K.