Quote:
Originally Posted by Restless One
Sure you can. Mandate that parking be attached to new development, either as a pedestal, or underground.
You have to remember that the vast majority of San Antonio residents don't live downtown, yet want to visit downtown.
We, as yet, have no ability to ferry these residents DT and back reliably, and on their schedule, and there is no short term/affordable solution to do so.
I think we can agree that a downtown area of parking garages is not what we want.
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I doubt it's possible to make such a mandate, but if it is I'm all for it.
Regarding ferrying residents, that would naturally be a necessity. Unfortunately mass transit is pitifully funded in this city, even by Texas standards. Meanwhie, millions and millions of public and private dollars are spent annually here reinforcing the single passenger vehicle paradigm. This money is spent on enlarging and repairing roads and on parking. I'm against it. The only reason it's considered practical and necessary is because of the massive infrastructure it supports, an infrastructure that is the most wasteful and inefficient model, but one that benefits private corporations enormously.
I don't know what you mean by "downtown area of parking garages". One short-term band-aid for ferrying residents might be a number of park-and-rides scattered thoughout the city (more than the few we have now) offering express service to downtown and back. They could even take the freeways. This might be less convenient than driving, but if you create more deterrents to parking downtown, like not trying to make a parking space for every car, or charging a high price for parking there, then people will adjust.