Needs More Parking…

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• So, could I show up to the council meeting Monday and argue that this is a waste of taxpayer's money or how does that work? Is there a deadline to sign in to speak out or how does this notice work?

• David, you've got me? I would suggest contacting your councilor and asking him/her. I'm not sure what the deal with that, alothough I am certain that I would rather my tax dollars weren't wasted on building parking lots :)

• I believe you both get five minutes on the floor and that you will need to pre-register or something. I'm sure the nice people at 311 can help you with that.

• Guido> Parking in windsor is incredibly easy. When I return I'm always amazed. The perception that it is "bad" or "difficult" is an interesting fiction. When I give talks about cities, I often compare Toronto and Windsor (where I spent 25 years). My Windsor experience was (and still is) driving from one place to another, parking within 100 meters of it (downtown, ottawa street, erie street, wherever). Though the option not to use a car in Toronto is easy (as it is easier to get around without one as transit is a real option here) when in a car, to park within 100 meters of the place you are going is an exceptional event.

  Guido, you tear down the fabric around a strip like Erie street, and you'll soon be left with an ugly ruin, and that will kill prosperity quicker than a handful of parking spots could hope to prevent. It's important to think beyond a few seasons in these matters.

  John is right, more footsteps from car to business at the mall. But there is the perception that you're parking right next to the building.

  These perceptions are very difficult to overcome. The looming car/oil/etc crisis will expedite it though. Windsor will be hardest hit by its inevitability, no doubt.

• Sometimes street parking on parts of Erie can be really bad though, and I'm sure some of the residents close to Erie street must not be happy with having their on-street parking taken up by patrons of Erie street restaurants and shops. Some stretches of Ottawa street would be in trouble to if it didn't have municipal lots behind some of the businesses on the south side, ie. around Stereoland. There is even a municipal lot on Tecumseh road just east of Hall, where on street parking is actually not in bad shape. It goes back longer than I can remember.

  At the end of my street is a funeral home that bought up and tore down some nice old homes for a parking lot - sad in a way but it had to be done. If they hadn't, I'd be parking two blocks away from my home every night. Parking lots are a reality we can't get away from sometimes... at least as long as many families have 2-3 cars and insist on driving everywhere they go, even if it's a few blocks away or on a good bus route.

  On a side note I read in the news that the mayor said no to Transit Windsor buying new buses to help replace its geriatric fleet - some of which are so old I am sure I rode them to high school and back in the mid '80s. While public transit is a money loser no matter where you go in the world, I sure think supporting public transit is tax money well spent just on account of the parking problem, gas shortage, and pollution issues covered in this thread. Not a slash at Transit Windsor though; I think they do a great job with what they have.

• I e-mailed my councilor about this, but 311 seems to be closed on the weekends, so I may be too late to register to show up Monday and speak out against this acquisition. Hopefully, everyone here is also complaining to their councilors so they don't vote for it.

• John> It's a temporary solution though -- the car problem won't be around forever, but this hole in the city likely will be.

  It becomes a question of -- do we want to prioritize being able to park close, or a long-term in-tact city? Windsor cannot afford any more holes. In the 6 years I've been gone, i'm struck by how much the city has thinned out each time I return (when you live in the city, you might not notice as much -- but usually each month/3month return i found a new teardown).

  I remember the funeral home at Kildare and Wyandotte (forget the name) tore down the huge mansion just south on Kildare. It was a rambling ramshackle house where, it seemed, most of Windsor's art community lived at one time or another as it was divided up in to different apartments.

  I vowed never to let that funeral home bury me.

• Shawn, I remeber that house. A freind of mine was one of the final tennats. I remember having run of the place in it's final days. If only I would have thoght to bring a camera back then.

  *Sigh*, it was a pretty grand place.

• Shawn, how do you figure the car parking problem won't be around forever? I respectfully disagree that parking lots are a temporary solution. I do agree they are a sucky solution when nice old homes are torn down to make way. But not a temporary one. The lots on Ottawa street have worked for decades, it just goes to show. Whether or not the Erie St. business association should be poneying up for these lots is another story, but ultimately people aren't going to stop driving cars anytime soon. If anything it's going to get worse, not better, based on all the big SUV's I see on the road (which belies the gas prices).

  I'm finding that out with the example I drew of that funeral home parking lot at the end of my street. It relieved on-street parking congestion but then Met hospital grew in recent years and now it doesn't have adequate parking for its employees and visitors. Yes, Met started leasing lots from businesses a few blocks north on Kildare and providing shuttle service but their employees don't seem to be wholly embracing the idea. They still circle the streets every shift change hunting for the closest spot. And last time I was in Toronto, I saw parking lots that were so big I needed binoculars to find the other end. One of those parking lots was called the QEW. :)