Ahh, can someone please make a decision?

The City Council yesterday delayed their decision on how to move forward with their parking strategy for Downtown. I wrote a piece a few weeks ago highlighting several aspects of a parking solution that could actually be the missing link between metered parking and a big parking garage.

It seems like the City doesn’t actually have a strategy and certainly no idea on how to get people on board with the steps they are planning on taking.

Perhaps we could rephrase this problem by calling it a visitor strategy rather than a parking problem. It’s not about cars or stalls. It’s about people, coming into Downtown for various reasons and we need to address this. Not by figuring out the sweet spot of how much money we can squeeze out of them, but by understanding what they need.

Street parking, any parking in downtown can’t be free if we want to grow up as a city.

A parking garage is very expensive, has minimal support in the community and worst of all is not sustainable financially.

So, is that all the ideas you have? Seriously, people. Where are the thinkers, the creative minds that offer solutions.

If we put up signage from the main entry points into downtown highlighting where our parking places are, people will feel more comfortable in coming to town and trust that they can find save and easy parking. How much is that going to cost, compared to a huge parking structure?

Turn the Farmer’s Market parking into a paid, stay-as-long-as-you-want parking space, so people will feel welcome to linger, be spontanous and not have to worry about getting a ticket. Currently there is no parking space in downtown that allows people to spontanously decide to stay longer. If you park at the Farmer’s Market, you get 3 hours. That’s generous for staying at the Market, but if you would decide you want to walk into the downtown core keeping you car there is not an option, and do we really want people to move cars and repark?
That’s not a welcoming way  for our guests. Wherever you park you have a time limit, have to worry about getting a ticket.

I want convenient parking with a pricetag and the peace of mind that I can enjoy this downtown for as long as I want, not as long as the meter allows me.

Oh, and why we’re at it. I want some more angled parking around Sylvester Park too. Slows down traffic, more pedestrian friendly and will be a great entry point into the “pedestrian-street” on Washington St. I am planning… but this is for another time, folks!