On 8/17/04 12:50 PM, "Gina Palandri" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> After sitting thru pre-LRT meetings, and dealing with them before the > tracks were done and the trains were running; all they were at all > interested in is getting us to "buy their train". I read the newspaper > too; however I disagree. I do not blame the city, nor the the city > council. As a matter of fact my city council person Gary Schiff has > been extremely pro-active in all of the issues I have brought to him > regarding the LRT. Including an on-line petition to stop the blaring of > the ridiculous "fog" horns they were using, and the fast response of the > critical parking petition. I'm sure Gary Schiff has been very proactive in responding to concerns. However, I'll highlight again an excerpt from Sunday's article about LRT and the parking issues: "In a decision that dates to the 1980s, the council wanted to put land near transit stations to better use. Members thought that parking lots would only invite new traffic to neighborhoods and then fill up anyway -- sending the spillover to residential streets." Gary Schiff was not on Council when this decision was made way back in the 1980's. In fact, I don't think any of the current council members were serving back when Council made the decision not to allow Park and Ride lots in Minneapolis. If I recall correctly, that decision even predates the actual selection of Hiawatha for the LRT corridor. Regardless of who actually made that decision, it's the current City Council that gets to deal with it. > And no we are not a bunch of neighbors > blowing hot air so to speak. From the very beginning this has been > Metro Transits project, every aspect of it has been to benefit the > project. Continuing to blame Metro Transit for not planning Park and Ride lots along the LRT route after Minneapolis City Council decided not to allow them is analogous to getting mad at the caterer of some party you went to for not having a good enough dessert selection when the host told them not to serve a dessert at all. It's misplaced anger and it's not going to help anything, regardless of what Gina and her neighbors would like to comfort themselves with believing. I'm not necessarily sure that Park and Ride lots are the solution to Gina and her neighbors' concerns. I'm more inclined to think along the lines of Jason Goray in that having cars parked in front of your house is part of the deal with living in the city and that building Park and Ride lots along the line will only draw more cars than any such lots could comfortably hold. Anybody who's seen some of the smaller Park and Ride lots along the freeway bus routes knows this is true. But I do know that if those folks living along the LRT line actually want Park and Ride lots, then they're going to have to lobby City Council to change their stance on allowing those lots because they're the ones who have the authority to make that decision, not Metro Transit. Mark Snyder Windom Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
