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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Free or cheap parking in downtown DC.  Pray do tell where that would be?  A spot can easily cost $300/month, but people pay that because it is far more convenient than other options.
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Seriously, dude. If you want to drive into DC and pay $15 a day to park because it's more convenient for you, then you should do that. Obey the speed limits, stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, don't right-hook bicyclists and scooter riders, and you ought to be fine.

$15 a day is cheap parking, though. My round trip into DC and back on the commuter train costs $12. Lots of people have transit commutes that cost more.[/quote]

Please pay attention.  As has been clear in this discussion, I don't drive all the way to DC because there is a viable parking option in Bethesda that you seem hell bent on taking away.  You plainly hate cars and drivers based on your completely non-sequitor PSA about basic driver safety.[/quote]

I don't hate cars. I mostly get around by driving. All I'm saying is that downtown Bethesda should not be a park-and-ride. It can be a thriving urban place, or it can be a park-and-ride, but it can't be both. I understand that the park-and-ride is convenient for you, personally, but I think that the people in the county in general are better off with a thriving urban place. [/quote]

So if I and people like me take a bus into Bethesda and then get on metro, Bethesda will be a thriving urban place, but if we drive in and park to get on metro, it becomes a park-and-ride?   That makes no sense at all.

In fact, people driving into Bethesad directly helps it be a thriving urban area. At least a couple of days a week, I (and I am sure others) stay in Bethesda for dinner, supporting restaurants which of course are a key component to a thriving urban place.  We'll also sometimes go shopping or see a show or movie, further increasing the vibrancy of the area.

Without available parking, much of this economic activity would be lost because, without parking, I and many others would drive to DC - not take a bus to Bethesda as you would prefer because that would significantly increase commute time.  That would very much harm the urban vibrancy of Bethesda.

Finally, we've been talking about commuting, but if parking were cut as you wished, it would further damage the vibrancy of the area because it would make it much more difficult for people to get into the area and support the businesses needed for a thriving area.  That's why the Bethesda Urban Partnership has made sure to have adequate parking in recent developments.  But of course you know better than the actual businesses that help make Bethesda a thriving urban area.

They recognize that the families eating or shopping, the ladies who lunch, and lots of other folks who support the local economy, would not in fact bus, bike, or walk in to town if parking were unavailable, difficult or expensive.  They would simply go elsewhere and losing those customers would mean losing businesses, harming the urban vibrancy you seek.

Your desire that people would simply bus, walk or bike doesn't make it reality and many people can't or wouldn't use those options.  So the choice is actually parking availability OR a thriving urban scene, not the other way around.[/quote]

The space taken up by parking garages absolutely kills the streetscape. At least at Bethesda Row, the parking garage is in the middle of the block. But most of the garages are just dead streetscape and dangerous to pedestrians.[/quote]

A couple of important points about parking in Bethesda.

1) Montgomery County loses a lot of money on their parking garages.  The revenue never covers the costs and the garages have to be closed for maintenance every decade or so because cars cause a lot of wear and tear and that costs additional money.

2) There is a huge opportunity cost in  dedicating commercial land in an expensive area to above ground parking.  Instead of spending 30-40 million to build a commercial parking garage that the county never re-covers the money on they could sell one of these lots for 10-20 million and a developer could, at their expense, put up a commercial or residential building that instead would create housing or commercial space that would generate tens of millions annually in property and potentially income taxes.

I'm not sure how PP is using a Montgomery County garage as a park and ride as I thought they were all shorter term parking?

As for sidewalks at the street level Bethesda really is dominated by cars - the sidewalks (relative to DC and Arlington) are very narrow and the streets and intersections are just massive with high volumes of cars, lots of queuing and very long waits for pedestrians to cross.

I had to take DS to basketball practice at Bethesda ES last week and we walked from the metro and it was not a pleasant experience at all.  The intersection right by the school took like 4 minutes to get across while we stood on a narrow sidewalk inhaling car exhaust.

I read somewhere that by 2025 downtown Bethesda is going to have about 50,000 people living within walking distance.  With the Purple Line coming and all of the bus feed that will necessitate to the Bethesda Metro between transit and the people who live within walking distance there is no reason for Bethesda to continue to subsidize parking.

But try telling that to all of the limousine liberals who profess concern about global warming while crying for the county to continue to subsidize their driving everywhere.

If you live in Montgomery County and want to drive for lousy food you can go Rio and enjoy some faux urbanism.[/quote]

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