59 Carden St.

Who parks downtown?

Posted by Magda
Ian Findlay has posted some interesting stats on the two-hour free downtown parking. Courtesy of city staff, via Findlay's blog:

We electronically record up to 500 vehicle licence plates each day on-street and are only issuing approx. 12 tickets for vehicles parking in excess of the two hour limit so the majority are parking for less than the 2 hours allowed.

In September 2008 a survey of 400 people downtown revealed that 78 were shopping, 40 going to restaurants, 128 medical appts, 32 social, 32 work and 42 for other reasons. There was no response from the remainder.

Underground?

Posted by Magda
Another Wilson Street garage surprise: the plan staff have sent to the engineering firm for conceptual design includes two floors underground. Councillor Bob Bell will ask staff Monday to have the consultant figure out the costs of a garage without underground parking as well.

A report from Derek McCaughan, director of operations, went to council yesterday saying the consultant can be asked to figure out the costs for 250 spots instead of the 500-some spots they're currently working on. But McCaughan writes that staff believe the smaller garage wouldn't satisfy council's goals for the garage, which would include making room for commuters riding a potential future GO transit service.

If you thought the Wilson Street garage came on fast...

Posted by Magda
Kitchener is fast-tracking a 500-spot parking garage downtown, the Record reports. Councillors waived the requirement to seek competitive bids for a consultant in order to speed things up. Construction is to begin in November and be done the following November. The province will pitch in $6 million of the $15 million price tag, because many of the spots will be to accommodate a new courthouse coming downtown Kitchener.

There's an interesting debate in the story about starting a parking authority that would have parking pay for itself -- an idea that wasn't adopted by their council. I haven't heard that idea discussed here. But Councillor Bob Bell announced at the last counil meeting that he's going to bring a motion about the Wilson garage at the next meeting, set for Monday. Stay tuned.

(This pic of the Wilson Street parking lot -- site of the future garage -- was shot by Ryan Pfeiffer.)

Getting rid of on-street parking

Posted by Magda
The decision in Toronto to get rid of parking along Bloor Street from Avenue to Church in favour of a narrower road with wider sidewalks is an interesting one, especially in light of recent discussion around the importance of on-street parking here. The city will borrow the money upfront for the changes, and will be paid back by businessowners over time.

Globe reporter Jeff Gray writes that "The city usually faces a revolt from merchants when the subject of reducing on-street parking comes up. In this case, the local businesses association has agreed, but not all the retailers love the idea, said Briar de Lange, general manager of the Bloor-Yorkville Business Improvement Area."

It's to begin this summer and be done next summer.

Six weeks have passed

Posted by Magda
The city has recently made room for more parking downtown -- for instance through angle parking on Wilson and Carden -- largely in response to the complaints of business owners on Carden.

But in late March they said a new lot would be operating by the Loretto Convent within six weeks, strictly for permit parking, to make room for other parkers in other parts of the downtown. Six weeks have passed, and it's still a lovely grassy field. I wonder what's up? I'll try to look into this tomorrow.

Changes afoot

Posted by Magda
Changes are coming to Carden Street, but nothing yet to the area around the convent.

It's a response to long-standing complaints, largely from Carden Street merchants, about a lack of parking.

Changes afoot

Posted by Magda
Changes are coming to Carden Street, but nothing yet to the area around the convent.

It's a response to long-standing complaints, largely from Carden Street merchants, about a lack of parking.

It's how easy?

Posted by Magda
Some councillors suggested yesterday that instead of allowing overnight parking on city streets, the public be educated about the number to call when you want to park overnight on your street.

The number 837-PARK was bantied about. Derek McCaughan, director of operations, eventually corrected councillors -- it's actually 836-PARK.

Seems it's not that easy after all.

(They did, by the way, decide to allow overnight parking this summer as a pilot project. Read all about it tomorrow.)

Overnight parking allowed, for now

Posted by Magda
Council decided to try out all-night parking on city streets in the summer.

The cost is nominal, operations director Derek McCaughan said. But it will cost roughly $126,000 in lost revenue from parking tickets.

Councillor Christine Billings was unhappy about the cost. "If I wanted to spend $126,000, I would do it on yard waste cleanup," she said. "We're taking more money out of (the parking budget) yet we want to be building parkades -- not one, but two."

There was some discussion about how staff would be reallocated once parking bylaw officers aren't needed at night.

"2 a.m. to 6 a.m. is an idea time to enforce what I hope will be a very strong body rub parlour bylaw," Councillor Maggie Laidlaw quipped.

It's a pilot proejct running from May 1 to Nov. 1.

Who's parking where?

Posted by Magda
Parking staff keep detailed stats on how full parking garages and lots get. Here's a snapshot (in pdf form) of one week last January: Baker lot, Macdonell lot, Wilson lot, East parkade, West parkade. The busiest lot is the East parkade, which was on average 81 per cent occupied during the period checked by staff (10am-4pm). The least busy was the Wilson Street lot, which was 65 per cent occupied, on average.