Duluth seeks to streamline public parking
November 13, 2011 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
With the goal of making parking in Duluth a little easier and more inviting, a new authority is in the making.
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Duluth seeks to streamline public parking
18 Comments
hmmmmmmm, last couple of times the city has done this, we’ve ended up with diagonal parking, increased meters in residential areas and higher fees at the meter, for less time; oh boy, can’t wait to see the outcome of this treasure hunt!
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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They should call it a czar.
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Does this new commission or Czar have authority to charge UMD neighborhood parkers a fee for driving over and/or blocking public sidewalks?? I think there should be a special fee for parking part way in a driveway with the back half of the car across the sidwalk blocking pedestrians! Let’s give this new czar some real power! How about adding portable meters to the mix, when there is a need to regulate parking, such as during sporting events around town, rush out the czar parking meters to place them around the crowded areas/neighborhoods! Let’s really think ‘outside the box’ !!!!
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$25/k for advice from 4 professionals? Over $6k each for something I could figure out over morning coffee on the back of a napkin. Hope this study works out better then the fish tank.
Is parking this complex of a concept? They could give out dog treats? That idea has to be worth a $1.50 just by itself.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Create a new bureaucracy. Now there’s some thinking outside of the box.
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“handing out treats to dog owners.” I got a laugh out of this one- If we don’t own a dog and we don’t get a treat- discrimination??
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Genius. That is all this city is another authority. Just wait. In a few years, there will be a levy question on a ballet asking to fund this authority.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Just another reason for people to abandon downtown and head up over the hill.
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“You should charge people more for parking on the street than you do for parking in a ramp,” Dave Feehan, a parking expert from Washington, D.C., told people in Duluth.
No kidding… Duluth has been way behind in this thinking for quite some time. Try parking on the street in Washington DC, you better bring your billfold! Parking in what’s called “premium zones” there, you’ll pay $2 an hour!
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As I’ve said, I highly question a parking “expert” being in the whopping metropolis of Missoula, MT. But then again maybe there’s an expert in French culture & antiquities in Gordon, WI.
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Eliminate parking on one side of the streets. Paint bike lanes in their place. Make parking spaces in the ramps cheaper for motorists. And voila! Problem solved. I guarantee that half the traffic downtown is just idiots going around the same block over-and-over again just waiting for a space to open up. Give the motorists a designated place to park, and open the streets up to the people.
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More like problem created. Make the ramps cheaper? How are they going to make up for the lost revenue? How much tax do bikes pay again?
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The vast majority of bicyclists also own automobiles with which they pay taxes on. And since when have you been opposed to lowering taxes?
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At least Duluth has some business downtown to worry about parking, where parking is easy around all the empty lots in “Downtown” Superior.
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The simple answer for streamlining parking is to outlaw cars in the city of Duluth and use horses instead.
Also, horse manure won’t be much of a change around 1st street, so that’s all good. The city has to pooper scoop that area anyways.
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Every time the downtown parking issue is discussed and any changes made, it just means it will cost more to park downtown…..regardless of where you park (ramp or meter).
I’ll go out on a limb and predict something here…lol. The statement was made that it should cost more to park on the street than it should in a ramp. Let me assure you, the ramp rates are not going to go down…..the meter rates will just be raised. So, why is it the solution to our downtown parking problems always seems to be just to make it cost more to park downtown ? Doesn’t that seem counterintuitive to common sense given that downtown is losing businesses and therefore there is less reason for most to even go downtown anymore ?
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Actually, I think downtown business has been fairing rather well these last few years. Downtown business has been dying between the 1980s and 2005-ish. However, that’s an age-old trend, and things actually seem to be picking up… slowly, but steadily. Jessica, can you name one decent-sized city that doesn’t have parking problems downtown? Probably not.
There are 2 things cities do to help with parking downtown:
1.) They encourage other modes of transportation (buses, walking, bicycling, etc) to reduce traffic congestion and increase air quality, OR
2.) They demolish historic buildings and turn the downtown into a desert of parking lots with few remaining buildings/businesses.
Which would you prefer?
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Yes, I really prefer walking in January when it is -20 and a 35mph wind off Lake Superior.
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