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Assuming other concerns about the proposed downtown Wheeling parking garage can be resolved -- and that is a big leap of faith -- one might be handled by crossing the street.
One suggestion has been to site the garage on leased land across Market Street from the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel building. The garage would serve tenants of the remodeled building.
An alternative would be for the city to buy structures on the same side of the street as the Wheeling-Pitt building and to the north of it, demolish them and build the garage there.
Whether owners of those existing buildings would be willing to sell to the city at reasonable prices is unknown. But the city has used eminent domain power to acquire property in the past, for the J.B. Chambers Memorial Recreation Park.
Eminent domain power, in which a court can set a reasonable price for property and require its owner to sell to a government entity, is disliked by many who worry it infringes on personal liberties. We share concerns about the practice.
But, again, the city has used eminent domain in the past.
One way or another, city officials should consider a garage proposal involving property beside the Wheeling-Pitt building -- and owned by taxpayers.