A Great Start

Mayor Moak gave an interesting annual address to the Chamber of Commerce last week, promising everything from paid parking to an open water front.

Who is this guy?

I mean word on the street was that the Mayor saw the wisdom in establishing a system of paid parking downtown, but he'd done little to further the idea in his first term. In fairness, he has always maintained that he had to focus his attention and time to fixing the budget. But I always hoped for a wee bit of multi-tasking since the budget may never be fixed, not completely at least. (He did provide some encouraging words on the money side as well. Read more here in Gillian Swart's Current article.)

As for the Waterfront, if you read some of the earlier criticisms written of the then-new Mayor he couldn't pave over the waterfront fast enough. Hell, it sounds as if he had steamroller idling in front of city hall and trucks full of asphalt on the way, with each vehicle being driven by a representative of the so-called "conservative" block. (That means folks who have lived here a very long-time.)

But none of this is consistent with his speech.

First the parking. The mayor predicted that the city will have a paid parking system in municipal lots by the end of the year. Furthermore, according to the article, the mayor suggested the city will need a parking [structure] "at some point."

So paid parking AND a lukewarm pledge for a parking garage? Hmm, smells like progress to me. I've gone over my feelings on paid parking before. See here and here. We, as a city, are leaving money on the table by not charging for parking downtown. Not only are we missing out on the revenue generated by parking fees, but the current free-for-all downtown encourages abuse as folks, including myself, roll the dice hoping to sneak a few extra hours over a three hour limit.

(Note to parking enforcement officers. I drive a ... high-end, luxury ... um...sports car. Yeah that's the ticket. A convertible. Yeah, yeah..um...a BMW. No wait, a Jaguar. Yes, a black one. So be on the look out.)

A comprehensive paid parking system not only would tap our many visitors for a wee bit of walking around (and fixing our roads) money, but it also would free up parking spaces by putting loiterers like me (and you, let's be honest) on notice. There are a myriad of other benefits as well

Do you agree, Mayor Moak?

“We believe that we need to implement paid parking,” Moak said, adding that it will not only raise revenue for the city but will discourage people from parking too long in spots with time limits. “We are two percent below the budget level we need to sustain good services. We as a community will have to step up to close the gap.”

Apparently, he does. I didn't think we were always in agreement. Back during the campaign, I recall a question about a parking garage being asked during the debate at the Middle School. In fact, I wrote about it then.

Does the city need a parking garage?
John Moak: No. The Waterside group must build the infrastructure to handle all the parking generated by their project. Talked about partnering with Waterside on a public private garage if necessary. Also identified Prince Place as a possible site of a parking garage if we did need one.

Now, this is my synopsis of his answer. Were there nuances that I missed? I don't think so but if someone disagrees with my summary give a shout. In the answer the Mayor does talk about partnering with the Waterside Group. He also leaves the door open for a parking garage at Prince Place, which is a location that I favor (and I'd been told he favors as well.) However, I've been told building a garage back there would be a logistical nightmare.

Bottomline, the answer didn't give me a lot of hope that we'd see talk of a garage and paid parking this early in the next term. But here we are.

That's not to say I'm 100 percent on board with his plan. As someone pointed out to me, a system that only charges people to parking in the Green Street lot will only encourage cruising around the city streets for free parking, thereby adding congestion.

Seems to me a more comprehensive plan is necessary. We need to charge for street parking as well. Plus, we may have to deal with a system to handle any overflow spilling out into residential neighborhoods and the Tannery.

But all this certainly sounds like a step in the right direction. Good stuff!

I'll address the Waterfront in the next post.