Over the weekend I caught wind of a new analysis of parking being done by the mayor’s office. Presumably it will be the basis for the mayor’s effort to promote making parking on the waterfront lots permanent.

This morning Lois from the mayor’s office responded to my weekend voicemail saying that the study should be available in a couple of weeks. Of course until then, any reports of what is in it are tentative, but my understanding is that the mayor is seeking to cap parking fees for downtown employees at $2 a day, and that he wants to use parking revenue for maintenance costs of streets and public services in the downtown area. If this is true, it would mean paid parking (in the lots, not on the street which would remain free), no parking garage, and no new parkland.

Needless to say, I am eager to get hold of the report when it is released. And I wonder how the timing of the release will play with the distribution of the NRA parking survey.

Jim Stiles, Newburyport