DTMP: Section Two - Parking and Moving

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by Scrutiny Hooligans
on Thursday, May 21, 2009

Downtown Master Plan Part 2 - Parking and Moving

[This is the second of several posts examining the proposed Downtown Master Plan (DTMP). You can see a brief overview of the plan here. Click here for the entire plan. Click here for the appendices. Click here for my post on Section One. A public hearing on the DTMP will be held May 26th at the City Council meeting that night.]

I've got three favorite parking places downtown. One of them remains unmetered. Each requires an extra block of walking to city center. You all have your favorite spots as well, even the cyclists and the scooterati. Anecdotes suggest that some folks have a terrible time finding a place to park whenever they come downtown. Downtown business owners want it to be easy for people to get out of their cars and move all over the city.

The Downtown Master Plan (DTMP), utilizing an inventory of parking spaces at various hours, takes a look at how to get people downtown and how to keep them there. I'm in agreement with a lot of the points made in this section, but there is one area that we can do without.

As was true in the Arts and Culture portion of DTMP Section One, "meeting our own needs and following our own vision, the people of Asheville have garnered world-class attention. This has been the key to our success, and it's part of what makes us unique." Changing the culture of downtown to cater exclusively to tourists would be a mistake. The Tourism Development Authority's Wayfinding system, which will cost $75,000 up front then over $50,000 per year to maintain, is a portion of the plan we could cut to save money without any negative impact on city residents. More about that after the jump.

A proposed traffic and parking management system in the DTMP has real potential to freeze the need to build more parking spaces/garages. As the city prepares to spend $900,000 to build a parking garage under a luxury hotel, it's time to recognize that by shifting our strategy, we can save a lot of taxpayer money while reducing traffic. I'll list the exciting parts of this plan after the jump.

Content Source: scrutinyhooligans.us/2009/05/19/dtmp-section-two-parking-and-moving/