Missing the point on parking in Hillcrest
Posted By Thomas Bahde on September 3, 2009
The Union-Tribune reports today that the Uptown Partnership, a “community group” that manages the Uptown Community Parking District for the City of San Diego is considering two options for increasing the amount of available parking in Hillcrest, including investing in a parking garage structure under the Mission Hills-Hillcrest public library branch; or purchasing or leasing part of the AT&T lot on Robinson Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets.
There are significant problems with both locations, but neither the Union-Tribune, nor the Uptown Partnership seems especially concerned with the main issue of sustainability. Each project would add only about 90 parking spaces in the neighborhood, certainly not enough to significantly alleviate the parking situation, but enough to bring in more cars hunting for spaces.
As an entity that subsists on parking revenues, the Uptown Partnership is concerned primarily with increasing parking spaces, not decreasing the need for those spaces by promoting walkable, bikeable, or transit-friendly neighborhoods. If the Uptown Partnership or the City of San Diego cared to notice, they would see that Hillcrest is already a pedestrian- and bicycle-heavy neighborhood, but certainly not a friendly one. Adding more parking spaces, and thus more cars, will only make Hillcrest less friendly to everyone who doesn’t travel by automobile. It’s a step in the wrong direction if we want San Diego to be a more bikeable, and a more sustainable city.
Here’s a well-written argument against adding parking to an urban area, taken from a Savannah, GA sustainability website (cited by Tom Vanderbilt on his blog http://www.howwedrive.com)
http://sustainablesavannah.com/transportation/solving-parking-transportation-problems-requires-out-of-the-car-thinking/
Basically, adding parking does nothing to alleviate parking issues. Charging more money for existing parking is an easy and sure fire way to achieve the desired effect. I often wonder if city counsels ever look at actual studies or scientific research before spending millions of dollars on projects. Probably not.
PARK(ing) Day is coming up – September 18th. We should set up bike racks in street parking spots near the library and AT&T. Then add grass and parkbenches in adjacent parking spots.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3270/2872054730_8dd7728282.jpg?v=0
I have a better idea. North Park, Hillcrest, and Mission Hills weren’t designed for cars. They were designed for streetcar service. So, bring them back! Most areas that have bad parking usually weren’t designed for it.
I think it is a bit ridiculous that the entire purpose of the Uptown Partnership is to manage the parking situation. Who are they partnering with? Car drivers? I’m not sure drivers even know about their existence…but I’m just speculating here.
I was reading a study done on the Hillcrest Corridor Mobility Study and they found that “to increase bicycle activity, it will be necessary to create an environment that encourages bicycle activity such as reducing traffic speeds and providing wide outside lanes or dedicated bicycle lanes “. Sherlock would be proud of this deduction.
As Thom says, getting more auto traffic here isn’t going to alleviate the problem. And besides, I think people like coming here because of the people centric design of the neighborhood compared with the Sorrento blah blah and Mira something.
We should get a bunch of us to go to their meetings and let our voice be heard. Let them know of some our “alternative ideas” to fixing their parking problem.