Downtown Parking

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.

Anne Arundel County officials have scuttled a plan to sell a downtown Annapolis park for possible development, hoping that the city will be willing to take over management of the county-owned land. Alan R. Friedman, county director of government relations, asked the council at its Monday meeting to withdraw a plan submitted in December by County Executive John R. Leopold. Annapolis Mayor Joshua J. Cohen said he is reviewing a draft agreement that calls for the city to lease the land at no cost for the next three years, though he said he's open to potentially developing the land.

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.

Many people are afraid of crime in parking lots and garages, and not without reason. According to a 1999 U.S. Department of Justice report, they are the second most frequent place for nonviolent crimes and the third most frequent place for violent crimes in the United States. That said, hiring armed guards at $40 to $50 an hour to patrol parking garages in downtown Baltimore may not always be necessary. A recent report from the city's inspector general, David McClintock, said much the same thing.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Downtown should not only go green, it should be the center of a vibrant city-wide open space network. In suggesting Baltimore should have a leading edge central park that connects surrounding neighborhoods and business areas, Tom Wilcox ("Downtown should go green," Dec. 7) has acknowledged the elephant in the room. The recreation of downtown has greatly improved the economic health of the city. Now it's time to make it an exciting, cheerful and physically healthy place to work, live, visit and play.

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.

The city of Annapolis will break ground Wednesday on a 268-space parking garage in downtown, a project that Mayor Ellen O. Moyer calls "a significant milestone in the renaissance of West Street." The five-deck Knighton garage will be at Colonial Avenue and West Street, just blocks from the State Capitol. The groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. The facility will become the third municipal garage in the city, along with Gott's Court and Noah Hillman garages. Moyer said the parking garage will help revitalize West Street and ease the parking shortage near downtown.

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 towns of Boonsboro and Sykesville have much in common, but it isthe differences that stand out.While their mayor-and-council governments serve similar populations, town facilities here are notable enough that Boonsboro's mayor and Economic Development Commission visited Sykesville on Saturday to get a look at programs and projects that they hope to emulate.Officials from the Washington County town asked about Sykesville's recycling program and downtown parking.Boonsboro Mayor Skip Kauffman said he came to Sykesville after getting to know Mayor Lloyd R.Helt Jr. and other officials from Maryland Municipal League conventions and hearing about their programs.

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.

Downtown Baltimore's first car dealership in decades, planned for the ground floor of a high-profile parking garage at Pratt and President streets, won't be your typical auto showroom. Anyone walking on the south side of Pratt will be able to peer through the tinted windows and watch the mechanics at work, in much the same way diners at some trendy restaurants can observe chefs in action. If that's not catchy enough, Antwerpen Automotive Group plans to stock more than the latest Volkswagens.

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.