It been over twenty years since I've been on the council, but my understanding is that parking ramps and meter funds have been a significant if minor source of income for Minneapolis since then and before. What many might not realize is that the parking ramp program was begun back in the mid seventies while I was on the council to accomplish multiple purposes. The program has, in my opinion, been very successful.
Among the benefits: The program raises revenues for the city that otherwise would have to be meet with higher taxes or reduced programs. Parking is available for the ten of thousands of new jobs that have been created in the CBD. This has permitted a higher density of development downtown than was previously possible. Old surface lots took up a lot of downtown geography in the 1970's. Today most of those lots have been replaced with significant buildings generating significant tax base and providing thousands of people with jobs. Finally two pieces that most people probably miss or forget about is the peripheral nature of the parking garages in the downtown area. The system met two major objectives public policy objectives. The first was to assist the city in meeting its federal obligations under the then current clean air act. The peripheral parking system was designed to intercept automobiles as they approached the CBD area, and subsequently reduced the number of cars penetrating the core area or passing through it in search of parking. The second was to provide parking for employees in more remote locations to free up parking in ramps like Daytons for shoppers and short time parking. This was seen as a significant program to help keep Minneapolis' virtually unique viable downtown retail core. Prior to this plan and its implementation, the city had relatively little experience building and operating parking ramps. Could and would it raise rates? Would they be self supporting? These were all questions at the time. It turned out that experience has taught the city that it can in fact be a good operator of parking ramps. Finally, its much easier to get in and out of the city's parking ramps than any of the private parking ramps still in the core of downtown. The people of Minneapolis have made a good investment in these ramps, and they have paid significant dividends to the city over the years. (We'll try not to dwell on the ramp that had an entire floor collapse.) Mpls., MN 55417 _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
