What struck me about the Strib article was Lisa Goodman's comment that
increasing rates could encourage more people to use ramps and thereby
alleviate the congested downtown streets. To me, that flies in the face of
creating a more livable downtown.
In my uninformed opinion, raising the rates is fine, but we should be
dramatically increasing the number of on-street parking spaces in the core
of downtown to make quick stops easier, provide some life on the streets and
buffer the pedestrians from traffic.
If congestion is a problem during rush hour, limit the parking to non rush
hours and heavily ticket the cars that haven't been moved. (This works well
in Washington DC.) During non rush hours, all I see are wide open streets
and No Parking signs.
John Rocker
JCR Realty Advisors/
National Survey Systems
3211 Fremont Avenue South
Minneapolis MN 55408
