Lazy whiners

I agree with Mitch Downs that Salt Lake City's new solar-powered, credit-card-accepting parking kiosk system is not as bad as its reputation and, with a little focus, it's really quite easy ("Parking meter ed," Forum, Jan. 8).

All the time I hear from friends that they avoid driving downtown because of the "hassle" of parking. Some even say it's hard to find a parking space. What are they talking about? For a downtown urban area, Salt Lake has excellent parking.

Look around. The city's full of multi-story parking plazas, and even street parking is usually not difficult to find. Have they never been to a city bigger than Magna?

What they're complaining about is that they can't always get street parking right in front of where they're going, like at Walmart. Well, it's no big deal to walk half a block, or even a long Salt Lake block. Even two blocks.

For being proud, even boastful, descendents of pioneer stock who walked across the plains, Utahns are lazy whiners.

You go downtown for its wonderful amenities; the relatively inexpensive cost of parking is part of the package deal. Get over it.

Tom Steele

Salt Lake City