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Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Wed, 04/09/2008 - 1:12am.
On the 4th Ave. block between Franklin and Washington streets earlier tonight there were more parked bicycles than parked cars. Maybe what this town needs is a bicycle parking garage. That would help the bicycle parking situation. The adjacent Diamond parking lot was almost empty. If the parking lot operator were to install a bike rack he or she could charge a fee for bike parking. This is a "mouseover." Try dragging your cursor over the photograph: 
Olympia Sidewalk
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downtown parking garage?
Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Wed, 04/09/2008 - 5:41pm.One way that I would like to see the city pursue its sustainability mission would be to promote alternatives to automotive traffic (at least in downtown sector). For those whom are able, using alternatives (Intercity Transit, bicycle, walk, carpool) would greatly improve the aesthetic downtown. Housing could play a key role on this. Imagine taking all those parking lots and turning them into modest high rise apartments and condos. The people who currently use the land for parking could, instead, live on it.
Paid bicycle parking...
Submitted by timtheenchanter on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 8:05am.also
Submitted by Rob Richards on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 8:48am.A house, a car or a piece of infrastructure
Submitted by Laurian on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 9:45am.in a pedantic sense, you are indeed correct
Submitted by Rob Richards on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 10:03am.Kinda needlessly snarky Rob
Submitted by Laurian on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 5:30pm.I'm not correct in merely a pedantic sense. I was not being overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.
You mis-used some basic accounting concepts, and mis-used them badly. You turned the definitions of asset and liability on their heads, an error which if exploited by someone opposed to your position, would throw you on the defensive and diminish the strength of what I suspect is a well reasoned argument.
It's this kind of shooting from the hip that gets you (and everyone else including me) in trouble.
store-front awnings & bike racks...
Submitted by chad360 on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 10:09am....in the rainy NW these ideas seem to go together.
I'd like to see more covered bike spots, and more covered sidewalk in general for shopping & strolling in downtown.
Ground-level bike parking tied to affordable housing (green "dorms"/apts) would also be great, but I'm not picky =)
Parking Garages
Submitted by Ehver Green on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 10:11am.But then where would vegans park?
Submitted by Guglielmo on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 10:15am.Leave an entire row on the
Submitted by Ehver Green on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 10:26am.Leave an entire row on the ground floor for bikes with banana seats. Give bike riders air, a water source to refill, and locking stations.
Banana seats only?
Submitted by timtheenchanter on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 4:01pm.Maybe in some places, but not here
Submitted by Matthew Green on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 4:03pm.If any financial plan for a parking garage in Olympia, presented by the city or the ODA or anyone else, could convincingly show how the parking garage would turn a profit, or merely break even, then we would have three or four garages already.
Case in point: The original purpose of the PBIA was to raise about $160,000 to cover the annual deficit of a parking garage (and this was assuming that all parking meter and parking ticket revenue already went to the garage, and further assuming projected garage revenues and costs that were so optimistic that they failed to hold up even for the time it took to pass the PBIA).
Matthew
Sure
Submitted by Ehver Green on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 4:16pm.No argument here. But things change. Minds change. New council members become elected and the motion starts all over again. That's where we are today - planning.
Minds may change but the
Submitted by Laurian on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 5:27pm.Minds may change but the basic economics of a parking garage don't. To repeat. There is no parking problem downtown! How the ODA go this into their heads I'll never know, but once it got there, they cling to this myth like a baptist to his bible.
The downtown business community clutches at any external reason to explain why their businesses don't do well. They blame employees. They blame the poor. They blame the middle class. They blame the Olympian. They blame the city council. They blame Lakefair. They blame everyone and everything except the brutal economic conditions for small businesses in America that are well beyond the influence of employees, the poor, the middle class, the media, the city council and carnys.
Maybe the could try being open more hours and oh I don't know, sell stuff people want and/or need. If that doesn't work, well move on. Perhaps that custom candle shop was ahead of it's time.
How do we know if parking is or is not a problem?
Submitted by Guglielmo on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 5:36pm.Yea I do
Submitted by Laurian on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 7:04pm.Unscientific of course, but I travel the length of the 4th ave corridor, Water to Plum two or three times a week. When I travel that way around noon I make a point of counting the empty 90 minute parking spaces. In 9 blocks I consistently count 15 to 20 unoccupied spaces. The three paid lots in that stretch are nearly empty.
I live downtown and I have never has to park more than a block away from my building regardless of day or time. The only time I have ever seen what I'd call tight parking is during events like Lakefair of the Procession of the Species.
Ya know, screw this. The balance of proof must lay on the side of those who want an multi-million subsidy on top of the subsidies they already enjoy. The 'survey data' the ODA will point to is crap. Self reported poppycock. I'd love to see a empirical study of parking availability but the council nor the ODA is interested in paying for one.
So Gug, I'll turn your question around and ask: Got any data or anything else to challenge my assertion?
Nah, I think the answer is we don't know
Submitted by Guglielmo on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 8:48pm.An apology
Submitted by Laurian on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 9:44am.