Parking myth hurts downtown
Information lacking, not spaces
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/16260862.htm
This recent article discusses the scapegoat of downtown parking and how the lack of public knowledge about parking, not spaces, is what fuels a misunderstanding of the subject.
Highlights:
- There are an estimated 7,600 downtown parking spaces available to the public
- Signs are being created to direct people to both public and private downtown parking
- Metered parking is free after 4:30pm on weekdays and also free on weekends and city holidays
- A tiered fine structure is being looked into for repeat parking violations
- A unified parking system is being considered that would be administered by a single downtown parking authority
Our thanks to Scott Greider for reminding us about the parking issue also being addressed in the BaseballPLUS Report.
From Section VI. C. of the report:
"Among these downtown stadiums, little if any of the project budget is used to produce dedicated parking. Part of the perceived value of locating in the city is both the ability to take advantage of existing parking (with the majority of the games being played in the evening, the parking is counter-cyclical to the business needs), and the opportunity to promote ancillary economic activity by taking advantage of the "walkability" of a downtown location."
Another point Scott mentioned that is also in the Report is the fact that of the comparable stadiums looked at, parking was at first thought to be a major issue for those cities, but in fact, turned out to be a non-issue completely.
The issue of parking is certainly one that the City of Fort Wayne needs to expound upon in the future in order for the public to be knowledgeable of the facts and options available. Parking, along with traffic, will surely remain whipping boys throughout the course of the project. The task of the City will be to disseminate definitive, clear information in order to 'lessen the lashings'.
5 comments:
Good post! Couple of things could be added to it from the BaseballPlus Report of July, 2006:
Section VI.C. says: "Among these downtown stadiums, little if any of the project budget is used to produce dedicated parking. Part of the perceived value of locating in the city is both the ability to take advantage of existing parking (with the majority of the games being played in the evening, the parking is counter-cyclical to the business needs), and the opportunity to promote ancillary economic activity by taking advantage of the 'walkability' of a downtown location."
Furthermore, for the three comparable stadiums the committee presented, parking, though initially thought to be a major issue, has turned out to be a non-issue.
Good point, Scott. I wanted to put this up there because I remembered this particular article, but I remember reading that portion of the BaseballPlus report too. Thanks for the headsup, I'll add it to the post.
And apparently in Greensboro, they (city and owners, I assume) conducted a media campaign "to communicate parking options in advance of opening." Clearly, that's needed here, too.
BTW, who are you and Brian?!
This is a great post and should spark some conversation about parking downtown.
Here are some things to consider:
The signs on many of the Parking meters are wrong and should be fixed; this certainly adds to the confusion. If Parking Enforcement stops at 4:30 PM then the sign should say free parking begins at 4:30 not 6:00...
The article discusses a tiered fine structure and I think this is a good idea.
What the article misses:
The proposal wants to build a parking garage for 10 million dollars. This parking garage will lose A LOT OF money each year. The County parking garage next to the City - County building loses about $250,000 per year. This new Parking Garage will lose more then that!
Fort Wayne has proven over and over that it does not udnerstand the Parking business. Lets get Fort Wayne OUT of the parking business.
Mike Sylvester
This is the kind of information that the public needs to know. If people only knew half of this information, opposition in my opinion would be reduced greatly. It's a matter of being informed on the issue. I definitly agree on the media campaign and expect one to occur here in Ft Wayne as well.
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