Quote:
Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse
Yeah it just doesn't make sense to me that people would be afraid to pedestrianize that type of street or use the argument of it damaging business. I mean, I just can't imagine myself thinking "Hey, I want to get something at, say, the World Tea House, so I'm going to get into the car and park directly on Argyle St while I do my shopping." I mean, the chances of finding on-street parking downtown are kind of hit and miss anyway let alone on the exact specific street as a store you want to visit.
When I go downtown with the car, I will normally either park at the library or Queen St. Sobeys, (I hate that they have surface lots there but my not using them won't make them disappear) and walk to my final destination. Sometimes I may see if there's on street parking on Summer St. or Sackville St beside the garden. I've even parked at Quinpool Superstore and walked down depending on if I'm in a hurry or it's a casual visit. But I would never count on parking on a specific downtown street.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by counterfactual
Very much agreed. Who thinks they're actually going to park here?
If I'm driving downtown, and not walking, I'll often park in the underground parking lot for Pete's Frootique. It's the perfect location; and it's also pretty easy to spend $20 at Pete's to make it free. On Sundays it's also free.
The problem until now, is that there wasn't even this option (underground parking) around the city, like you do in, say, Toronto where there are pretty much a new buildings on every second block with underground parking. So people just complain about "no parking". I think as more of these big developments around here come online, street parking becomes less of an issue because each development has an underground parking lot that comes with it, that the public can use. It won't be free, but it'll be convenient.
Eventually the cheap ass Halifax attitude that people are "entitled" to free parking, like the world is a big strip mall, will change. People will make use of these convenient underground parking lots, like they do in every other city, and shut up about no parking. And then there will be less moaning about having a pedestrian street like this.
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I like the idea of Argyle becoming a pedestrian street. It's not a route to get anywhere from anywhere, parking is minimal on the street with the sidewalk patios and there's a good chance your car will get damaged if you park it there at night anyhow (DAMHIK). When it's busy, it's difficult to drive down the street due to people walking in front of you and taxis stopping, etc. Moreover, when you're sitting at one of the aforementioned patios, you're often barraged by noise and exhaust fumes from passing vehicles (especially Harleys with no mufflers, for example). IMHO, turning Argyle pedestrian would be no loss to the car-driving public.
If we're comparing it to the Granville pedestrian mall, I don't think it is a good comparison as Granville doesn't get the foot traffic there, mainly due to the north end being cut off by Cogswell (again, IMHO).
I agree about parking downtown. It seems like some people are content to drive around and around looking for that perfect "free" parking spot. Not me. There are already a good supply of parkades downtown and I use them every time I drive to a downtown destination. Along with those mentioned, there is Scotia Square, Park Lane, Metro Park, Purdy's wharf (which is connected to a pedway system that gets you right to the middle of downtown, Scotiabank Centre, or the waterfront boardwalk within a 5 - 10 minute walk), etc. As far as I'm concerned, spending an extra $5-$10 to park is quite reasonable for downtown, and is worth saving the headaches of finding a free space on a busy weekend or feeding the meter if it's during a weekday. Adding more underground parking will only improve the situation IMHO.
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