11 responses to “Parking Available”

1. Anonymous

   April 25, 2006

   I like the new banners and, yes, I do find them helpful. Who put them up? (i.e the City, Chamber of Commerce, DBID?)
   I’d find them even more helpful if next time the maximum length of time is added to them — in other words, “2 hour” or “10 hour” etc. would be helpful. Now it seems like I often park, get out of the car, and then if it’s an unfamliar lot I have to go read the meter to see what the maximum stay is…it’s not very user friendly for a visitor. In fact, it would be great if we could paint the poles of the meters…black for one hour, yellow for two hours, green for four, etc. Might liven up the looks of those parking lots.
   I haven’t noticed….are these banners on the Broadway lots too?

2. Anonymous

   April 25, 2006

   That’s a great idea, Joanne.

3. Pete

   April 26, 2006

   Also, the banners on the Donnelly Street parking lot need to face out 90-degrees to the street, rather than on the same plane as traffic flow.

   That way, drivers can see the parking lot from the corners of Lorton and Primrose as they turn down Donnelly

4. Anonymous

   April 26, 2006

   Hey- I just drove by the Donnelly Lot and the banners have already been adjusted. Probably before I even wrote the last blog entry…

   Is this a great town, or what?

   Pete

5. Joanne

   April 27, 2006

   I’ll answer my own question (posed above): I needed to go to Broadway today and I didn’t see any parking banners (so I assume they are limited to Burlingame Avenue lots).
   On another note….For the last several months every time I’ve gone to Broadway I get the same thought: Broadway has too much parking. I know that sounds crazy, but I think if Broadway had less parking it might get a little more foot traffic. As it is now, I am always able to find a spot right in front of the store I’m going to, I go in, transact my business and get back in the car. I’m never forced to walk Broadway, like one is forced to walk Burlingame Avenue. In fact, Broadway feels more like the Burlingame Plaza strip mall (near Lunardi’s) than Burlingame Avenue for that reason. Recently I was on Main Street in Huntington Beach and several of the restaurants took the few angled parking spaces directly in front of their restaurants and used those for outside seating areas rather than parking. (Cement posts separated the diners from the car traffic). The outdoor dining spots created a lively street atmosphere. Broadway should think about doing this too….get some of those coffee shops and breakfast spots to have tables out on the street….it might create more of a buzz on the street and drive more foot traffic. Let the people park in those half empty city lots off Broadway and walk to the businesses they need to walk to……

6. Cathryn Baylock

   April 27, 2006

   Did you attend the CBB Forum in February featuring Michael Freedman of Freedman, Bottomly and Tung? The most interesting part of the presentation which dealt with lively downtowns was a segment on the project they had done on Castro Street in Mountain View. They had created a “flexible parking” concept that allowed angled parking to be easily converted to outside seating with the movement of a few bollards. This allowed businesses (such as dry cleaners, etc..) that needed short term-in and out spaces to have that access, but if the business changed to a different use, it could be converted. It was an intriguing concept.

7. Cathryn Baylock

   April 27, 2006

   p.s. the downtown parking banners were designed in conjunction with the Burlingame Avenue Area DBID. I believe Councilman Cohen was responsible for the design and donated his design services on this project.

8. Joanne

   April 27, 2006

   Thank you, Madame Mayor…and thank you Councilman Cohen for a well-designed banner. The banners are a definite addition to the downtown area…Next time they are printed, add the maximum number of hours and they will be perfect! 🙂 Another idea for the DBID to consider is to print maps of downtown that show all available parking lots (with maximum times for each lot)….a small sticker (maybe six inches in diameter) that repeats the colors and logo on the parking banners could then be placed in shop owners doors or windows and the sticker could say “Ask me about parking”. This is an idea from Santa Barbara (which also has attractive parking banners). I remember going into the Museum on State Street and complaining to the ticket taker that we only had one hour of parking on our street meter….without missing a beat, she pulled out a parking map and showed me exactly where I could move my car so that I didn’t have to worry about the meter expiring. We have more parking in this town than most people think….we just have to make people aware of the location of the lots.

9. Anonymous

   April 28, 2006

   Thanks Joanne. There is a parking map available that gives the locations of all parking lots in the downtown area. Many of the merchants have them and of course you can obtain one at city hall, the city website and to my knowledge any of the parking enforcement officers. I believe staff is looking into acquiring the counter top containers for display for interested area merchants.

10. Anonymous

    April 28, 2006

    I think the parking “map” should also be posted in the lots themselves, color coated like Joanne has suggested, to match the meters.

11. Joanne

    April 28, 2006

    Great idea, Jen. A poster sized map on a bulletin board type thing that could be read while one is still in the car and circling.