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| Staff photo by LOUIS DELUCA/DMN |
Fewer parking spaces certainly won’t help with convenient access to Downtown Dallas, Sounding Off contributors said.
What should the city do to accommodate more visitors to Downtown Dallas?
Thomas Allen, Lancaster: I would be less inclined to go downtown if there were less parking. I do have a need to go to the West End on a regular basis for a business purpose, and I find parking adequate there, with neither a surplus nor a shortage. I do find that parking space has been reduced around the Federal building, leading to shortages and higher prices, to the detriment of the ordinary people who need access to that building.
I don’t think Dallas should take the initiative to influence the supply of downtown parking other than to establish parking rates at the meters that provide the appropriate incentives to discourage the use of street meters for long-term parking. Otherwise, surface parking lot owners should be left free to do with their property what they think is best, not manipulated by incentives that distort the true market.
Stan Aten, Oak Cliff: The lack of parking is not why I don’t venture downtown more. The confusing layout of downtown streets with some streets one way and others two-way is a great deterrent to my venturing downtown. Normally when I go downtown, I take DART via the light rail to events and activities downtown.
If Dallas wants to make downtown successful, then the city and DART need to push for the construction of the second light rail downtown and expand the street car system to allow people to go downtown without driving their vehicles.
The existing freeway and road network is filled to capacity at rush hour, which starts before 6 a.m. in the morning and 2 p.m. in the afternoon. The state and federal government don’t have the money, and the city does not have the space to accommodate any more highway traffic.
Henry Barber, Cedar Hill: First thing people need to remember, this is not NYC, Chicago or Boston. Folks around here are used to driving. I’m aware that more people are taking public transport; however, there is still a need for public parking for commuters.
Then there are the people who go downtown for hockey, basketball, concerts, etc. They need a place to park. Taking away those lots north of the AAC is not going to help the parking problem. That garage across from the AAC is always full on game nights.
The shortage of parking is the main reason I’ve stopped going to the AAC. People who actually live downtown may feel that parking lots detract from the urban lifestyle, but I bet many, perhaps most of them, have cars, too. If every lot is turned into a park and no parking garages are built to take their place, I expect several businesses will be forced to relocate to areas that do have parking for their employees.
Downtown would be the last place I would locate my business, if I had one. If people who live downtown can’t work there, too, they will be forced to relocate, too.
Another issue, not related to parking, is all the panhandlers downtown. Some of them are very aggressive. They are another reason I don’t like to go downtown.
Bill Betzen, Oak Cliff: While parking is always an issue in Downtown Dallas, mass transit expansions and a true subway will play much more into the future of downtown than investments in more parking. The reasons to move and live downtown will continue to grow faster than available parking as privately held cars requiring parking are less and less necessary. Rentals by the day and hour give much more flexibility and efficiency, combined with mass transit.
Ernest Cuellar, DeSoto: So the visionaries of Dallas want to make the city more walkable. With Dallas’ mild summers, highs in the 70s in May, June, July, August – what a great idea. I’m in. I will start the push in DeSoto.
Suzanna Greer, Southwest Dallas: I’ve never been concerned about the availability of parking in Downtown Dallas and never missed an event because of unavailability. I have, however, been concerned about the safety of parking. I don’t mind a bit of a hike to an event but worry I’ll be mugged or have my car broken into because of poor lighting and no active attendants or at least cameras.
Very few of us live in that area, so we need it to be “walkable,” but mostly weneed a safe place to park, which means easily walkable and monitored. Both are needed, and I’m willing to pay for that.
E.B. Pope, Lancaster: As a suburbanite working daily downtown I pay for monthly garage parking for which my employer reimburses. It is increasingly difficult for visitors and clients to visit our offices downtown. Lack of spaces is not the only problem. On Main Street near my office, the city has granted several restaurants and hotels generous valet spaces and privileges.
I imagine this “municipal generosity” is prevalent throughout downtown and uptown to the detriment of the taxpayers, of course not a very friendly practice to casual visitors coming to do business downtown or visiting families out to see the sights.
Also, many meters are now designated as two-hour limit downtown. This was done much to curb the illegal monopoly of downtown spaces by downtown full-time workers using handicapped placards (often illegally obtained) to monopolize spaces all day without paying. This practice limiting meters does little or nothing to help visitors coming to downtown as tourists or customers.
On a recent weekend trip downtown to take my granddaughter to Klyde Warren Park to ice skate, I was forced to pay $10 at the DMA for two hours of parking. Surface lots were charging $12.
I think improvement is needed. Perhaps more underground parking. More free or low-cost parking would encourage sightseers and casual visitors. More green spaces would be wonderful, too. They would attract visitors and families downtown as well. Where will they park?
Felipe Ramirez, Duncanville: Parks and parking can perfectly coexist with today’s technologies by building parking under the new parks. If you want more visitors to downtown, start offering two hours of free parking.
Douglas Rose, Grand Prairie: Downtown parking seems to be a perennial problem in most growing cities (that’s why the mall was invented). One of the problems seems to be the raising of fees according to The Dallas Morning News. One parking garage went from $85 per month to $200. Obviously people choose not to patronize garages like that. Downtown St. Louis helps shoppers by validating their parking stubs if they make purchases in the area. All incentives help, I believe.
Rob Stacks, Lancaster: I don’t work downtown anymore, so I am not familiar with all of the available public parking and the landscape downtown continues to change; i.e. buildings being demolished and new lots available and new buildings being built on old lots.
Also, it is difficult to determine if parking garages are open to the public. I know that CBS Radio has started having some events downtown, and they do an excellent job of including suggested parking lots for its events. I am not aware of any central website that identifies all of the public parking options downtown.
The city of Dallas could develop a website that identifies all of the public parking available and publicize the website. They could also link that website to all of the downtown attractions: JFK Museum, Klyde Warren Park, etc.
The problem sounds like one that could be solved with some education of the public.
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