Reply to S/O What should MoCo do about parking in downtown Bethesda

Forum Index » Metropolitan DC Local Politics

Reply to "S/O What should MoCo do about parking in downtown Bethesda"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
PP lives two miles from downtown Bethesda.  That's not in downtown Bethesda or on top of the Metro station.  She lives exactly where you are suggesting someone like her should.

But, [b]it is important that people like PP be able to park relatively easily in downtown Bethesda[/b].  Although the area has gotten denser in recent years, I significant portion of people who work, shop, eat, etc in downtown Bethesda live relatively near, but not in downtown Bethesda --- say 1.5 - 5 miles away.  Without parking available, most of those people simply are not going to come in and support downtown businesses.

Now, I happen to disagree with the PP that the current parking situation is inadequate.  With the new, big lot by Silver, I think there is enough parking and I think someone like PP who now avoids the area because of parking is in the distinct minority.  Having said that, if parking were to be significantly reduced, as some people here are advocating, then I do believe that you would have more people like PP who would avoid downtown Bethesda and that would be very bad for Bethesda businesses and the area in general, which can't rely only on folks in downtown Bethesda itself to survive.[/quote]

No, it isn't. Really, it isn't. It's convenient for the PP, of course. But it's bad for downtown Bethesda. We really need to get over the idea that a dense, urban place needs easy parking for economic prosperity. The opposite is true.

Not to mention that there is already lots of parking in Bethesda. Lots and lots.[/quote]

Anti-parking PP, I'm another person who lives about 2 miles from downtown Bethesda and goes there less and less frequently these days. So I drive further (and emit more) to go somewhere that I can park. There may be "lots and lots" of parking in DT Bethesda, but not close enough so that I can lug a cart full of groceries and other stuff from Target and TJ's as I did this morning. Even at 10am, that tiny little nub of Stanford Street was total gridlock because the garage for Target and TJs is teensy and they've now opened an urgent care center right at the same exact spot.

We'd all love to live within walking distance of everything in downtown Bethesda. But unless you're going to put in a lot of subsidized housing (ha! wait till the NIMBYs hear that!) most of us can't afford the $2m price tag. So build more parking, and redo the restrictions that force all traffic onto Bradley or EW Highway, so the great unwashed amonst us can come and shop and dine and take karate and go to the bank and the post office and commute to our offices via public transportation. Getting rid of parking might benefit the developers who build the condo buildings, but it won't help the community that actually exists in the surrounding area.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics