[Vision2020] Downtown & Gritman Parking

[Paul Rumelhart]

I work at the HR building next to Taco Time, and I see a large number of 
students cut through our parking lot on the way to school, as well as a 
large amount of foot traffic down sixth street during the school year.  
I think this coincides with the UI's policy of reducing the number of 
free parking spots to near zero on campus.  Back in the day you could 
park at the Dome if you didn't want to fork over the $30 bucks or 
whatever it was for a Blue permit.  Now, almost every spot has a price 
tag attached.  I agree with the idea of providing spaces for on-campus 
students so that they can actually park near where they live, but what 
about the off-campus students?  The University's parking policies have 
basically made parking Someone Else's Problem.  Those someones being the 
people wanting to park anywhere near the campus. 

I don't get out to the old parking lots anymore, is the parking on 
campus usually full?  If it is, then the students parking downtown are 
spillover.  If not, then the UI is shooting themselves in the foot by 
not reducing permit prices to fill more parking spaces.

Paul

Bruce and Jean Livingston wrote:
> This problem of students poaching parking spots in the downtown area and 
> walking the rest of the way to campus is endemic to the area in the southern 
> downtown in particular.  At University Pointe, on Sixth Street between 
> Otto's and Taco Time and across from Gambino's and the Ale House, the 
> students have done the same thing to what is clearly marked "private" 
> parking for customers only.  The problem has improved based on serious 
> policing efforts by the building's management, which included parking 
> stickers for employees of building tenants, and signs indicating that 
> unauthorized vehicles would be towed.
>
> I encourage the City to resolve Gritman's parking problem quickly, by giving 
> the public designated and clearly marked spots, somewhere in the Gritman 
> lots, and allowing other parking spots to be maintained, controlled and 
> policed privately by Gritman.  Gritman would then have the ability to police 
> the remaining "Gritman only" spots privately, and could tow unauthorized 
> interlopers.
>
> It may be that the City and Gritman disagree on whether replacing the 16 
> parking spots lost by the street vacation and subsequent hospital expansion 
> is sufficient compensation for the vacated land, and that more than 16 spots 
> ought to be provided.  I cannot speak to the alleged oral and written 
> agreements between the City and Gritman about parking.  But whatever number 
> of spots need to be provided to the public, there ought to be some way to 
> delineate those spots and segregate them from those that should be the 
> exclusive province of Gritman employees, patients and visitors.
>
> Bruce Livingston
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "B. J. Swanson" <bjswan at moscow.com>
> To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 2:08 PM
> Subject: [Vision2020] Downtown & Gritman Parking
>
>
>   
>> This morning, Dan Carscallen asked, "But, just out of curiosity, is the
>> Wren lot public or Gritman only?"
>>
>> It's a long story but is probably typical of the more recent parking
>> problems in Downtown.
>>
>> In 2002, Gritman asked the City to vacate 8th Street between Main and
>> Washington to allow expansion of the main hospital facility.  A verbal
>> agreement was made with the City that Gritman would provide equal public
>> parking spaces for those displaced by closing 8th Street; 16 spaces to be
>> exact.  Gritman owns the land north of the Wren Garden so a 30 space
>> parking lot was constructed by and is maintained by Gritman.  It was
>> decided that Gritman would not place any restrictions on this lot,
>> no 'Gritman Only Parking' signs etc., and consider it to be open parking,
>> more than compensating for the 16 spaces displaced on 8th Street.
>> Sometime after the verbal agreement with the City, a written agreement was
>> made, but differed considerably from the verbal agreement.  The written
>> agreement actually stated that both Gritman parking lots north and south
>> of Lewis Street are "Public Parking."  Gritman didn't feel that was a
>> concern at the time so let it go.
>>
>> Since last fall, Gritman has received numerous complaints about the lack
>> of parking available for patients and visitors in any of the Gritman lots
>> as well as on-street parking.  Gritman has been tracking this and found
>> that many students were parking in the Gritman lots.  They seemed to come
>> early, take many of the spaces, put on back-packs, and hike out for the
>> day, leaving no room for Gritman clients.  To compound the problem, in
>> March the City placed "Public Parking" signs on both Gritman lots.  This
>> escalated the parking complaints from patients and visitors.  The addition
>> of the "Public Parking" signs to the Gritman lots make them the only
>> parking lots in Downtown Moscow where the public can park all day for 
>> free.
>>
>> Gritman asked the City in April to revisit the "Public Parking" issue.  So
>> far, there has been little response from the City and nothing has been
>> done.  Gritman will keep working to resolve this problem.
>>
>> B. J. Swanson
>>
>>
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