I am in no position to know the details as to feasibility, but I respectfully would suggest that Commissioner Young and her fellow Park Bd members think a bit more about this.
One of the (many) injurious aspects of our automobile fetish is the nearly universal practice of basing parking requirements for development on worst-case scenarios. This is precisely the sort of thinking that Commissioner Young (clearly casually, but nonetheless) reflects: we must ensure enough parking for that unpredictable moment when 50 people show up on a weekday for a picnic. Urban areas and their residents suffer very real and significant economic (and environmental, and quality of life) losses from the high proportion of paved surface maintained for parking (see "The Myth of Free Parking," a report by St. Paul-based Transit for Livable Communities: http://www.tlcminnesota.org/parking/mythoffreeparking/index.html One way to mitigate this impact -- and a familiar concept, I presume, to most of those reading this -- is shared parking between/among land uses with complementary peak parking demands (e.g., the church and the taproom). It would seem intuitive (and perhaps even true) that peak demand for MPRB parking -- presumably weekends -- and commuter parking for LRT (weekdays) would coexist nicely if we get past the "worst case scenario" parking capacity paradigm. It also might be a moneymaker for the MPRB -- with higher daily parking rates for commuter parking than at present for park use and an attendant to collect them. Chuck Holtman Prospect Park Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 11:10:13 -0500 From: Annie Young <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [Mpls] Parking for the LRT To: "Dorie Rae Gallagher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Oh goodie! Let's have LRT users fill up the space so that the day the family of 50 who is having a picnic has nowhere to park...that isn't what the lots are for. While it may be true that they aren't particularly full during the week that is not there purpose. The LRT people should have planned for all of this parking dilemma stuff at the time. Poor idea but at least thanks for saying "that we do check" the lots. Annie Young citywide Park Commissioner At 08:14 PM 8/16/04 -0500, Dorie Rae Gallagher wrote: >The Park Board needs money. Why not buy a Park Pass and park at one of >Minnehaha Park Patron Permit Parking areas that are never used and walk >across the street. Even on the busiest of days, most of those lots are >empty. Yes, you have to pay some money, but the park is getting the >revenue, it is for a season, cheaper than downtown, less hassle, no one >is going to scream at you or slap a post note on the window. But don't be >stupid enough to think you can do it without the pass...they >check.... www.minneapolisparks.org > >dorie gallagher >nokomis 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
