Letters to the Editor
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When was the last time you found parking in Manhattan?
I got here three months ago and I'm still trying to--wait, typing, swerving, bicycle goddammit!-- find a spot. My advice: Pave.
Central Parking Lot.
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And which moron conconcted the speed bumps every 59 feet rule
I wish I had that concession. Hundreds and thousands of randomly placed speed bumps. Even on public streets now we have speed bumps every couple of hundred feet. Of course they're actually a safety hazard at that point. After 30 or so speed bumps I just zonk out and drive about 10mph and if I don't go off the road or slam into a pedestrian or something it's a good day.
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How about we exit our gas-guzzling vehicles and try another approach?
Almost two years ago, I decided to fundamentally change change my lifestyle. Just shy of 55, I disposed of my automobile and began riding a bicycle on a daily basis, supplement by the occasional bus ride. Alright, it's true: Eugene OR has made this an easier thing to do than many cities, having invested in bike paths and bike racks for buses but, that said, this change was a surprisingly easy one to make, and would have been so even without these ammenities.
I lost 60 pounds in the first year, reduced my blood pressure and tossed the medications I had been taking for several years. I am now far more fit and healthy, and have not purchased gasoline for almost two years.
People should frankly get off their 'fat asses' and find an alternative to driving, particularly to and from work. Some combination of public transit, car pooling, biking and walking would offer a degree of exercise we all need to most everyone, and dramatically reduce the cost of commuting. To say nothing of lowering the ongoing damage to the ecosystem, and the rising costs of maintaining our crumbling automotive infrastructure.
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Expenisve parking doesn't always solve the problem
When I was in college (years ago...) I had a job in downtown Sacramento. I simply could not afford the expensive parking garages nearby. I mostly took light rail in, but occasionally I needed to drive because of other commitments after work.
Street parking was 2 hour only, I would skip out of work to drive around desperately looking for metered parking. Too much parking was never an issue, and had I been able to find a cheap spot within a mile or two I would have gladly walked. The cheap spots within a mile filled up more than 2 hours before my work started.
Now I live in So Cal, and I can't say that parking is much better. Go to Laguna Beach, most of Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, San Clemente, etc. and I would hate for any parking spaces to be removed. Public transportation isn't a viable option here and I doubt that will change soon.
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The Paving of America
I recently moved from Asheville, NC, where I lived for 6 yrs. and worked in historic preservation. Asheville is a tourist town, without folks driving in from all over we wouldn't have any economy to speak of. And downtown Asheville is a big draw. Not as big as the Biltmore, but then most things aren't as big as the Biltmore.
Anyway, I worked in a museum downtown, and we constantly heard complaints about parking. "There's no parking in this town" "You people should have more parking." Fact was, there was plenty of parking, you just had to be willing to walk. And you only had to walk about a mile one way. But the tourons were so fat and out of shape that walking a mile was just impossible for them. They'd all have had coronaries. I walked over a mile every day and never suffered for it, but I always kinda thought we should have more parking, for the tourists, cause that's our bread and butter.
Then I saw this presentation by a local architect. It was about hotels and boardinghouses in turn of the century Asheville. He had superimposed old Sanborn insurance maps over aireal views of downtown, and it was absolutely amazing. 90% of the buildings he talked about had been torn down, and every one of them was now a parking lot. Our history had vanished before our eyes, and all so fat lazy tourons could come to our town, park within a half a mile of their destination, and bitch about how there was no parking!
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Change my lifestyle?! What are you, a Commie. . .
Excellent article, Katherine.
The few responses I've seen posted may prove the rule: Folks really, really like their autos (and free parking).
As a landscape architect/planner that dealt with these issues early in my career, getting folks to change their lifstyles is a tough nut to crack. When you have a country that has "invested" gazillions of dollars in roadways, employs huge numbers building and maintaining them, and a culture that embraces cars as a "personal statement" of identity, then change to alternative transportation becomes the Rubic's Cube of planning.
It seems to me that the author of the "Geography of Nowhere", James Howard Kunstler, is correct in anticipating that Peak Oil will be the catalyst for change. I certainly don't see a whole lot of political leadership here.
Cheers.
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ah well
i am a brick and mortar merchant in a not-so-dense urban environment. i rely on customers getting reasonable access to my businesses. that happens to include local parking availablitiy. not all customers can carry bagged merchandise in a backpack or bicycle basket. it becomes increasingly apparent that customers can't get close enough to purchase much more than a baguettte - and carry it on themselves or in a bike basket. it also becomes apparent that "brick and mortar" days are limited. the writing on the wall includes that e-commerce saves time and is nevertheless the future of most of what we term, shopping. i happen to support the future of a diffused urban environment even to the detriment of my businesses. what we will witness is merely the end of a way of life for many..
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Lost 60lbs, don't call people fat asses!!
People should frankly get off their 'fat asses'
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Seriously, losing 60lbs disqualifies you from ever calling for someone else to get off his or her fat ass.
Congrats that finally at the age of 55 it occurred to you that you were drastically overweight, and you did something about it.
Here's clue, not everyone is a lazy fat ass just because you were at one time.
Here's another clue, some people who aren't lazy and aren't overweight can't walk a mile because of knee problems or other medical issues. Your problem was caused because you shoved food down your mouth, but don't presume that everyone who is in decent looking shape can walk long distances. Many of these people don't get handicapped parking permits, because they can manage the distance of a parking structure, but they couldn't walk one mile one way to go shopping or see a movie.