David Monday, July 28, 2008

Transit

Parking & Transit Issues Forum

Tuesday, July 29, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Administered by the Downtown Parking Task Force
City council chamber

For the past several months a consulting team has been working with City staff and the Downtown Parking Task Force – whose members are appointed by the mayor—to examine parking and transportation issues in downtown Raleigh.  The purpose of the study is to develop a plan for improving downtown access, including access to parking.  At the public forum, the consulting team will present an overview of the study findings and provide an opportunity for input from the community before completing the report.  This is a chance for citizens to see key findings of the field investigations and hear principals and strategies related to downtown parking and access that may affect future planning and policy decisions. Whether you live, work, shop, do business, or simply visit downtown to have fun, citizens are being asked to provide feedback.

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  • TSnow2760407/28 08:28 PM

    Earlier this year I attended a similar event and learned some interesting facts about DTR parking.  Did you know that there are more than 40,000 public parking spaces in downtown Raleigh?  That’s more than in downtown Chicago.  Obviously quantity is not an issue so I feel it’s either a lack of understanding how to navigate DTR and find these spots or people lazily want to park precisely in front of their destination or it’s a simple case of people trying to find something to complain about.  Some sort of downtown tram/shuttle might be nice but I have never, ever had trouble finding a parking spot.  How about everybody else?

  • Steve W07/28 08:38 PM

    David, thanks for this information.

    This process is such a scam.  I have been trying for a full year now to get the city staff member who handles the downtown parking task force to help me plug in with it, but to no avail.  Back in August 2007 when I first contacted him about the task force, he replied that the initial meeting where the Mayor gave instructions to its members was a private function.  So I was expressly excluded from the meeting.  About five months ago, there were some researchers from UNC who reportedly inquired about the task force, and they were denied any information about it.  A couple of months ago I asked staff for a list of the members of the task force, but the only thing he was able to give me was mailing addresses, as if I was going to send letters to the members through the postal mail.  And I had to follow up multiple times just to get that.  He says tomorrow’s forum was originally scheduled two months ago, but I am on an incredible number of email lists and plugged in with a lot of different people and organizations, yet I hadn’t heard a word about it at the time.  So the fact that it was a complete no-show indicates to me that the public is almost completely disconnected from this process that is supposedly public.  Staff continue to refuse to share any information (official or unofficial) about the task force, yet they deny the process has been secretive.

    After trying repeatedly to learn more about this process for an entire year, I am extremely frustrated. They claim they want “public input” tomorrow but they would rather keep us completely in the dark so they can take us by surprise because it’s less work for them that way.  Such a scam! And do you know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax money they are paying the consultancy, which wrote into the contract that the public can’t find out what they are doing until after it’s too late? Unbelievable.

  • Jason!07/29 11:17 AM

    I’ve never had a problem finding parking in a parking garage.


    I don’t think number of spaces is really the problem so much as a complete lack of viable alternate methods of getting people in and out of the city center.

     

    Chicago has a rather sophisticated public rail system, adequate buses with sensible routes, and an excellent number of quality cab companies.  The last time I tried to get a cab to take me downtown I was told it would be an hour at least to get to me, and then the company wouldn’t pick up the phone.

     

    I’ll be there to see what they’ve come up with, but if it’s simply “mo’ better parking” I think we’ve wasted the taxpayers’ money.

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