tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post299208663262606065..comments2024-03-25T17:49:41.408-07:00Comments on Salem Breakfast on Bikes: Framing Howard Hall as Practicality vs Sentimentality Misses Giant Parking LotSalem Breakfast on Bikeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-87408371082517549842014-04-22T10:44:06.444-07:002014-04-22T10:44:06.444-07:00You are right that parking is expensive!
As a h...You are right that parking is expensive! <br /><br />As a hypothetical exercise, if we assign a cost to the stalls in the Liberty, Chemeketa, and Marion Parkades at $40,000 each and all the downtown on-street stalls at $2,000 each - why isn't it clear that free parking of any length and especially of unlimited length also requires enormous subsidy? One of the frustrations in the general debate is that a number of folks seem to be clear-sighted about the costs of parking for police, but blind or blurry to the cost of downtown visits. Downtown parking requires not just the "downtown parking tax" but also yearly injections of urban renewal funds. Free parking is based on an unsustainable model and contributes to an over-supply of parking. (And has cascading effects on things like congestion, weak transit, and pressure for a third bridge.)<br />Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-47955792664955782322014-04-21T16:05:52.456-07:002014-04-21T16:05:52.456-07:00I mean why can't the Hall be converted to a us...I mean why can't the Hall be converted to a usable space for perhaps concessions, family gatherings or other general uses and put some play spaces in the front of the Hall. It looks to me like you could have both parking and keep the Hall for public uses. Surely people who are going to the hospital or at Bush Park would have interest in using the area if it were open to the public. <br /><br />That said, I agree that the surface parking concept is perhaps cheaper, but unsightly and unhealthy. When we were researching the City Hall renovation we learned that the average cost of a parking space in a structure is at least $40,000 each and surface parking is about $2,000.<br /><br />A bigger issue for Salem is why are we concentrating all hospital services in one spot? If we are going to have the big one don't we want to have a medical facility in another part of town. I think Salem Hospital needs to be thinking about creating facilities in other parts of Salem so that people do not need to travel so far for services and also might spread out their emergency capacity.Susann Kaltwassernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-76014823517864927062014-04-21T15:57:24.087-07:002014-04-21T15:57:24.087-07:00And incorporating Howard Hall into a playground ar...And incorporating Howard Hall into a playground area, because.....Susann Kaltwassernoreply@blogger.com