A West Broadway resident complained about the parking situation on the street in Jim Thorpe at the council meeting last week.

Barry Andrew, who is a former Jim Thorpe police chief, termed the parking "ridiculous."He said people who live in apartments take up parking spaces. So do the tourists who don't want to pay to park in the county lot.The problem is so bad that he said sometimes he has to pay to park in the county lot.Broadway and West Broadway have some unique issues.First, a finite number of spaces are available not enough for residents, downtown employees and tourists.Second, there are no adjoining streets on which Broadway residents can park. The only parallel street is Race Street, where parking is even more of a premium than on West Broadway.Third, especially now that fall foliage season is arriving, residents will have even more competition for parking spaces from tourists.Mayor Michael Sofranko said the only way to truly address parking is for the borough to create a parking authority."It just doesn't work when you have council try to sit down at the table and regulate parking," he said. "If you look at Allentown or the Lehigh Valley, they have parking authorities that deal with it."The difference between Allentown and Jim Thorpe is that in Allentown, even an authority has options. There are none in downtown Jim Thorpe.Meters all over the downtown area help businesses, but not residents.The only lot close to the downtown is owned by the county and has a high fee attached, making it unaffordable for residents to use daily.So what's the answer? Should tourists have the same parking privilege as residents who pay taxes? Is there a way to keep tourists from taking parking spaces from residents?A parking authority wouldn't be able to solve the problem. Only the creation of more parking will help.Possibly the council could schedule a special meeting strictly to address parking issues during which residents, businesses, and even the county since it owns the biggest parking area in that vicinity - could discuss potential solutions.Winter's coming and when snow piles up, more parking spaces are lost.Parking in downtown Jim Thorpe is a serious problem that is heating tempers, causing a bigger gap in the tourist-resident relationship and even making passage on Broadway more difficult as a result of illegal or double parking.Don't create a parking authority. Let the residents and businesses get together and discuss the matter. Then have council analyze the suggestions.It's not fair to the residents that often they can't park close to their residences. Or that they have to pay to park in the county lot.Tourism is a vital industry in Jim Thorpe. It's important, though, that it remains compatible to residential essentials.This might eventually mean the construction of more parking areas, especially for the local residents. Maybe tourism dollars could even help fund such a project.By RON GOWERrgower@tnonline.com