Totem Pole Tales- Parking meters for Onaway? Submitted by Nute Chapman From Onaway Outlook April 18, 2014

Caption #1: A Pleasant view of State Street looking west from the Dairy Queen.  Take note of the chamber building; the buck pole;
the trees in the city park; the Midway Restaurant; the Plymouth, Dodge and DeSoto; the Sunoco Sales; Eichorn's Barber
Shop; and of course the parking meters. Harrison's Restaurant is on the right.


Caption #2: A pleasant view of State Street looking east of the "Turn Around."   We can see Peterman's Garage, 
Burns International, Jeffery Hardware, Harman's Standard Station, the Metropole, the Onaway News, the Onaway Bar
and a row of parking meters.
 

  
  Back in 1958 our city fathers decided that we needed to have parking meters and parallel parking in Onaway.

  There was some kind of deal with the meter company to install them on a trial basis for six months.  This was in 
May. On June 2, a motion was made to get 100 meters.  On June 16, 60 citizens showed up at the commission meeting
complaining about the meters.

  At the Sept. 2 meeting another quorum of citizens showed up at City Hall with 241 signatures on a petition to remove
the meters at once.  The commission decided to bring it to the vote of the people Nov. 4.  The vote to remove the meters
passed by a large margin, but the meters continued to stand tall along both sides of main street. 

  The next time the business owners showed up at City Hall, it was to notify the commission that they had an attorney and if 
the meters were not removed there would be a lawsuit forthcoming.

  The parking meter heads were removed in December. The posts continue to stand tall.  It was late summer of 1959 before
the city crew cut the posts off.

  One could walk down the sidewalk and see the metal rings sticking from the cement for many years.


From the Onaway Outlook, April 18, 2014, page 3. 


Retyped by J. Anderson