Quote:
Originally Posted by austlar1
All the "great new buildings" provide their residents with one and sometimes two parking spaces because most of these residents rely on their cars to go to work or play. No parking options in these new highrises would mean no residents in the highrises. That is the current Austin reality. Unfortunately, there has been no effort by the city to encourage or require some form of short term and affordable parking downtown. Even the convention center garages go to flat rate after 6PM. I have news for some of you guys, but I can drive into downtown SF or Chicago (or Dallas or Houston for that matter) and find plenty of almost affordable hourly parking that would allow me to go shopping or keep an appointment and then go on my way. I needed to go to Toy Joy to get an interesting birthday present for a nephew. I was coming from Austin Pets Alive (Town Lake Animal Center) before heading home in SW Austin. It simply was not realistic for me to consider my public transit options before heading off to shop downtown. You can pontificate all you want about downtown being for public transit users, pedestrians, bike riders, and residents only, but there will NEVER (never being the next 20 years or so)) be a truly viable shopping district in the heart of downtown Austin without some additional convenient parking options for local residents. 2nd St. is turning out to be primarily a pleasant place for visitors to burn some bucks on a meal or some entertainment.
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The city isn't trying to discourage car-use downtown but it isn't encouraging it either and rightly so. Cars pollute the air downtown and make for an unpleasant atmosphere for pedestrians. Parking takes up a lot of precious space in a dense, urban environment that could have other uses.
There are a ton of residential developments in and around downtown within walking, biking, and bus distance so a "shopping district" without a substantial increase in car parking is completely possible. I live in the Hyde Park area and everyone I know either bikes to takes the 1L or 1M into downtown (soon to be the 801 MetroRapid bus).
Mass transit might not be feasible for you but there are hundreds of thousands of people living in Central Austin for which it is (that number is increasing). The MetroRapid bus will run every 10-12 minutes during peak hours (with much improved accuracy) so I foresee even more people using that option to go there.