Here is an example of how residents can win a cause by attending City Council meetings. This project involves CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) money--our federal tax dollars--that should, by definition be coming into the West Ward directly, since we have 40% of Easton's population, and the highest rate of low-income families in the city. Originally this project was to be a riverfront condo development on top of a new parking garage and LANTA bus depot near the free bridge on Larry Holmes drive, which is in a flood zone. Now the mayor has finally agreed with the people (over 500 names on a petition that opposed it) and is looking at building a parking garage and bus depot (without the condos) on N. Third Street. I am encouraged that the project is not longer proposed in a flood zone, with condos that we would never be able to fill, but I have a couple of questions on my mind about this new proposal:
1. Is this parking garage/bus depot necessary?
2. Is it an appropriate use of our CDBG money? (Some would say yes, because low-income families use the LANTA buses a lot, others would say that we are fine with the current bus stops and parking garage and that we need the money elsewhere for the neighborhood)
3. If the people decide that it is necessary to use our CDBG money to build it, wouldn't it make more sense to build it on South Third Street, next to the existing train station, so that in the future it is easy to transfer from car to bus to train?
I would like to get a healthy debate going in the group on the pros and cons of this. It may be a good idea, or it may not, but by definition, the use of our CDBG money is supposed to be according to public input, so it's important to get some public debate going. It is a lot of our money--do we care how it's spent? Please post a comment after reading this short article:
Express Times Article: Riverwalk Development Project Pulled For Now
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3 comments:
I thought I heard someone say at one of the meetings that we currently have a parking garage that isn't being filled to capacity, so what would be the use of building another one that will end up not being used?
I do agree that if one is to be built it should be located somewhere by close to the McDonald's but not sure if that area can accommodate such a structure.
There are lots of questionable decisions being made about parking in Easton. I could go on all day but to get to the point...We shouldn't be spending any public money for any more parking any where in Easton unless and until it can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that:
A) Driving will remain a major presence in our lives in the future. I don't believe it will. Vehicle miles traveled per year is drastically down and continues to fall.
B) Peak oil won't have a stifling effect on car ownership and hence the number of vehicles on the road (and being parked). It is already predicted that 12 million vehicles will disappear from American roads over the next three years.
C) The relationship between increased parking supply downtown and economic health are directly proportional and positively related. In my experience this is not the case. Easton has continually ramped up parking supply for thirty years (at the expense of 250 building demolitions) with no positive effect on downtown business. Look at all the surface parking along the South Third Street corridor from Ferry Street to the Lehigh River. That area of downtown is a dead zone inspite of (or more likely due to) the excessive number of parking lots.
D) That we actually need any more parking. This can not be legitimately proven since the city has no transportation or parking management plan, has no operating parking authority (ours is a statutory organization with no power to make decisions), has no inventory data of existing spaces available, has no plan to maximize on-street parking or revenue generation from those spaces.
DRL
the allocated 75 k should be used for the wards improvements , not parking lots. if you improve streets * neiborgsides people will return to shopp and all conveniences city has to offer.
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