Downtown Parking

Annapolis business owners who want to save a downtown parking garage had expected to argue last night with residents who want the building razed but emerged instead as allies in a campaign to press local government to solve the state capital's parking crisis.Local attorney William M. Simmons called the meeting, held at a downtown coffeehouse, to discuss ways to lobby city officials to keep Anne Arundel Medical Center's 330-space garage at Shaw and South streets. The hospital is moving to Parole in 2001.

Baltimore's drive for more downtown parking is again targeting the 129-year-old Masonic Temple for condemnation, rousing historic preservationists who want to save the landmark.City officials confirmed yesterday that they are considering buying the seven-story building at 223-225 N. Charles St. and tearing down all or some of it to create a 600-space parking lot. The city would also condemn the building at 217 N. Charles St. that houses the Downtown Partnership, a business coalition that has been calling for new downtown parking lots.

In an attempt to untangle downtown parking woes, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke named a city employee yesterday to the newly created position of parking coordinator.The appointment of Michael Rice, a Department of Public Works employee who heads the city's Parking Division, was announced yesterday at Schmoke's weekly news conference.Rice was one of nine candidates in a three-month nationwide search conducted by the city in conjunction with the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc.He will coordinate creating a comprehensive plan for downtown parking in addition to exploring ways to create new parking space with government and private business money, Schmoke said.

A Virginia consultant has recommended that Westminster city officials build a parking deck on the Longwell Avenue lot downtown -- if they decide to build the structure at all."Site selection is the first step," said Thomas B. Beyard, Westminster's director of planning and public works.Ned Cleland, president of Blue Ridge Design Inc. of Winchester, was asked to recommend a site for a deck and to estimate the cost of building it there, as part of a parking-structure feasibility study.In a report to the mayor and Common Council, the consultant said the area bounded by Longwell Ave., Distillery Lane, Winters Street and Locust Lane would provide the most spaces for the money.

Westminster business owners overwhelmingly favor building a third downtown parking facility to ease parking woes, according to a survey by Greater Westminster Development Corp.Among the 44 retail merchants and office managers surveyed, four of five said parking is inadequate, and 93 percent said they would use a one-level parking deck at the Longwell lot, between City Hall and the rear of businesses on East Main Street.For the survey, the nonprofit business group conducted personal interviews at 23 retail businesses and 21 offices.

There is a brave new band of commuters in Baltimore who literally float to work each day.They might be called the harbor water brigade.This handful of downtown lawyers, accountants, advertising executives and brokers commute across the harbor's waters on a daily voyage they describe as "relaxing," "invigorating" and "free of traffic hassles." They also say they save a lot of money in downtown parking fees.They travel on the Harbor Shuttle, a pontoon boat that picks them up each morning at Canton (off Tindeco Wharf along Boston Street)

The latest initiative in Westminster's decade-old discussion of downtown parking is a proposal to make parking meters and signs more user-friendly and eventually to build a parking deck.The City Council is scheduled to hear recommendations at tonight's meeting from a seven-member committee that reviewed downtown parking proposals contained in a 1995 study.Committee Chairman and City Planning Director Thomas B. Beyard said the new proposal is different from other parking problem remedies that have been offered since 1986, because it requires a "This is what we're going to do" commitment from the council.

Shops on Maryland Avenue -- a strip of boutiques in downtown Annapolis battling competition from nearby malls and chain stores -- got a holiday gift from the City Council last night.The council voted almost unanimously to cut in half, to 50 cents an hour from $1, the charge for parking outside the antique stores, clothing shops and other assorted businesses on the two-block strip from now until Jan. 31."The City Council is trying to respond to the concerns of the business community," said Ward 7 Alderman M. Theresa DeGraff, a Republican.

Heather Clark used to come to work half an hour early just to park her car.On sunny summer days, when Annapolis' picturesque City Dock was teeming with tourists, finding a parking spot was almost impossible. If she did happen into a spot on Main Street, she had to run outside every few hours to dump money into the meter.Soon the 18-year-old college student realized she was "spending all my paycheck on parking." She resorted to one of the most popular strategies among Annapolis workers -- parking on residential streets.

RECENT ARTICLES by Wiley Hall III and Doug Birch in The Evening Sun and The Sun have addressed the issue of VIP parking in the downtown Baltimore area. This issue, and other parking and transportation issues, should be addressed by city government officials as a source of revenue for fiscally troubled Baltimore.For too long, reserved parking has been a coveted perquisite for city officials and others. This perk is costing the city quite a bit of money, as well as the good will of Baltimore citizens who see this privilege freely dispensed.

What grounded the last downtown shuttle in Baltimore wasn't too few riders. It was an insufficient funding source. Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration has decided to put a fleet of shuttles back on the street and pay for them through parking taxes. Commuters and tourists will have to pay slightly more to park at area garages and lots, but the free daily shuttle should provide a quicker, less harried way to get from midtown to the Inner Harbor and across to East Baltimore. The real payoff should come in energy savings and reduced traffic.

Meters serve those who need to park quickly As executive director of the Parking Authority of Baltimore City, I am writing in response to The Sun's editorial on the need for additional short-term parking in the downtown area ("Short-term parking woes," May 2). Within the central business district, we have 1,429 on-street parking meters, which are meant for customers visiting the retail businesses and those who only need to park for a short period of time. Unfortunately, many others also use these meters, and this is why rates were increased to deter those parkers from feeding the meters and parking all day. We actively manage these meters to provide a supply of immediate, short-term parking in the downtown area.

THE CITY COUNCIL'S tentative decision to increase parking fines to up to $40 may indeed produce $5 million for the badly depleted municipal coffers. But it fails to address the real issue: a desperate shortage of short-term parking, particularly in the Inner Harbor area. The City Council ought to mandate municipal traffic planners, the Parking Authority and the Downtown Partnership to come up with quick and innovative ways to create more one-hour metered parking downtown. "If you just need to run in somewhere to pick up something, it's very, very difficult to find a space," acknowledges Downtown Partnership's Michele Whelley.

The "early-bird special" is back. In hiding for years, the discount parking rate for early risers can be found again in downtown Baltimore - a sign that garages are having trouble filling spaces and that the parking crisis bemoaned by businesses is over. One new parking garage opened last month, another will open next month, and three more will be ready by the end of the year. They will bring 3,500 new spaces to downtown and provide more parking than ever before. "There are vacancies everywhere," said Chris Sherman, general manager for Central Parking System, the city's largest garage operator.

The Westminster Common Council appointed a committee last night to devise a comprehensive plan for the city's parking sites, including two downtown parking garages slated for construction this spring. The 12-member committee, consisting of elected officials, city staff and business owners, will meet throughout the next year. Councilman L. Gregory Pecoraro will be committee chairman. "Within the next 12 months the city has to take a real hard look at how to maximize not just [parking] spaces but permits and metering and use of other lots," said Council President Damian L. Halstad.

BALTIMORE'S nightmarish downtown parking situation is about to get some relief. Starting Monday, frequent Downtown Area Shuttle (DASH) buses will transport commuters from satellite parking lots to the business district. And for the long term, several big parking garages are under construction. But these are inadequate Band-Aid solutions that offer no real cure. The reason: Shortsighted public policies over the last four decades have created an abysmal shortage of parking spaces. Downtown parking will remain a problem as long as city zoning laws are interpreted so loosely that they allow developers to erect skyscrapers without adequate parking.

Looking to add more parking to downtown Westminster, the Common Council introduced an ordinance last night that would allow the city to use $2.6 million in state bond money to build a parking garage. The city wants to fund the $2.5 million Longwell Parking Garage through the State Infrastructure Financing Program, part of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. The extra $100,000 would cover the costs of bond counsel, insurance, printing and related expenses. "This is a big step toward the revitalization and continued redevelopment of downtown," said Council President Damian L. Halstad.

Westminster has more than 1,100 downtown parking spaces at city-owned parking lots and at street meters but that's not enough, according to area merchants and shoppers who have long requested that the city increase parking. Tonight, Westminster's mayor and Common Council are expected to award a contract for engineering services for the proposed Longwell parking deck. The deck, which would be built over part of the Longwell parking lot, off Longwell Avenue, would add about 220 parking spaces.

DEAR GOVERNOR Glendening: Why not help Baltimore City, which supported you overwhelmingly, with Smart Growth? There are several Stupid Growth plans afoot here awaiting your attention. If Baltimore City can't get Smart Growth right, what's the hope of convincing those running the ex-urban counties that cities have anything to offer? The more questionable schemes: The city's recent fixation with creating excessive downtown parking, much of which is subsidized. A recent letter to The Sun indicated that eight 19th-century buildings must go to make room for parking.

Hard-pressed to find any single issue driving city elections, candidates for Westminster mayor and Common Council have focused on more minor concerns such as parking, police benefits and downtown foot traffic. City police want better benefits, and there aren't enough downtown parking spaces, candidates for mayor and two council seats say. Hoping to succeed Mayor Kenneth A. Yowan, who announced in February that he would not seek re-election, are council members Suzanne P. Albert and Kevin E. Dayhoff.