Rss Feed
Tweeter button
Facebook button

Portsmouth needs vision more than parking garage

by Leave a Comment

Print this Article   
Email this Article

“;
document.getElementById(‘premiumMsg’).innerHTML = contentStr;
document.getElementById(‘premiumMsg’).style.display = “block”;
} else if (userSingleSale == “Reguser”) {
contentStr = “”;
document.getElementById(‘premiumMsg’).innerHTML = contentStr;
document.getElementById(‘premiumMsg’).style.display = “block”;
} else if (userSingleSale == “PREMIUM01”) {
document.getElementById(‘premiumMsg’).style.display = “none”;
}

May 13 — To the Editor:

As someone who attended the forum on downtown parking last week, I was surprised to read in the Saturday paper that the meeting had yielded a “clear consensus” that the city should immediately build a parking garage in the Worth lot.

Consensus usually means unanimous or near-unanimous agreement; but in fact, there was significant disagreement.

City Councilor Ken Smith, who is chairman of the city’s traffic and safety committee, said the Worth lot is a poor choice because it’s too close to the existing garage and would overload downtown streets. Councilor Jack Thorsen gently but frankly told the Worth lot supporters that they don’t have the votes, including his own. Former City Councilor and state Sen. Jim Splaine suggested alternatives that should be investigated, including a state-city partnership.

By my estimate, about a third of the people who spoke had reservations. This is notable, since the forum was sponsored by the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce, whose leadership favors a Worth lot parking garage.

What struck me most about the session, however, was that innovative alternatives or supplements to a parking garage were simply not on the table. There was talk about creativity and Portsmouth’s ability to solve problems. But many seemed to have made up their minds that a Worth parking garage is the one and only solution.

For example, walking was given short shrift. The chamber president wrote recently it is “silly” to think people will walk more than five to seven minutes. How far, though, do families walk when they come to Children’s Day? Or Market Square Day? Or when Judy Collins plays at Prescott Park?

Properly motivated and aided by signs (“Last free parking next five blocks”), landscaping and lighting, and the knowledge that downtown parking will be difficult, people will park a short distance away and walk to where they want to go.

There are other options, too, such as public transportation. The city’s parking validation program has been a big success for retailers. What if the city started a Friday and Saturday night “Foodie Shuttle” that’s free with validation, or a “Prescott Park Shuttle” that’s just free?

These are not Gov. Moonbeam ideas. Similar ones are already incorporated in the city of Portsmouth’s master plan, in a 10-page section titled “Towards a Walkable Portsmouth.”

I think what the city needs is not so much a new parking garage as a broader vision of what makes a great, small city, and the will to make it happen.

Doug Roberts

Portsmouth

HOME



We reserve the right to remove any content at any time from this Community, including without limitation if it violates the Community Rules. We ask that you report content that you in good faith believe violates the above rules by clicking the Flag link next to the offending comment or fill out this form. New comments are only accepted for two weeks from the date of publication.

Print this Article   

Email this Article

Sign Up for Text Alerts

Sign Up for News by Email

Filed Under: landscaping ideas

Speak Your Mind

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.