(Editor’s note: a follow-up to this article appears here)

(Annapolis, MD) – Annapolis Mayor Mike Pantelides backpeddled on his desire to fix the parking problems in historic downtown Annapolis. Pantelides recently received the results of a study that assessed downtown Annapolis parking assets and occupancy rates. The purpose of the study was to determine how to improve parking and thus draw more visitors, especially tourists. 

The mayor had previously expressed a desire for residents and visitors to spend less time looking for a place to park, and more time enjoying all of the unique venues that the downtown district has to offer. Having grown up in Annapolis, Pantelides has fond memories of going downtown to shop for groceries, buy odds and ends at the hardware store, playing  hide and seek in Hopkins Furniture store, seeing what was new at the Main Street pawn shop, and shopping for fun decorations at the year-round Christmas store.

However, upon reading the parking study, the mayor was shocked to find out that most of his favorite shops either no longer exist, have moved from the area, or have changed to accommodate the rise in tourism. In their places are tourist-oriented shops, rotating restaurants-of-the-month, shops that sell things that he couldn’t quite fathom, and in one case an empty space where a building inexplicably disappeared.

After spending the afternoon at Chick & Ruth’s Delly eating five “Mike Pantelides” Greek Omlettes (#130 on page 8 of the menu. Includes Spinach, Feta, Black Olives, Onions, Tomatoes, and Peppers. Currently $9.29), Pantelides decided that easier parking was not what the town needed. 

“I just can’t see waiting in line to eat a breakfast dish named after me. I should be able to walk right in and get it. I’ve looked up and down this entire street, walked through a dozen alleyways, even climbed into the dome of the Capital building (being mayor has it’s privileges) and I can’t find a single place to get groceries or buy shoes! How do people live here? You’d have to walk a couple of miles out of town in order to shop at Grauls Market, and then hire someone to carry half of your bags back for you.”

Shortly thereafter, the mayor reportedly shredded the parking study, and decided to close both the Noah Hillman and Gotts Court garages, two of the city’s largest, in order to make it more difficult to park. “I just want this place to be home again,” he said. “I just want people to have their neighborhoods back. Is that wrong?”

As the mayor walked casually out of Chick and Ruth’s he caught a passerby by the arm, smiled, and said, “Did you know that George Washington slept here. Right up there, in the Maryland inn. Isn’t that cool?”