[Summit] Projo: Brown plans to knock down 7 College Hill buildings for new parking lot

[Greg Gerritt]

This is a key issue that capitalism and the crony type governments it creates ignore all the time, the issue of cumulative impact.  Each decision on its own can be good or bad, but clearly death by a thousand cuts is what is ignored.  greg gerritt


-----Original Message-----
>From: Aaron Masri <amasri1 at cox.net>
>Sent: Jan 21, 2016 9:59 AM
>To: Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
>Subject: Re: [Summit] Projo: Brown plans to knock down 7 College Hill buildings for new parking lot
>
>So the city approved it, pending further information from Brown on their future plans for the site.  It's embarrassing how short sighted our public officials can be.  Think about how many parking lots there are in Providence where a house or business used to stand.  Are we honestly better off because of it?  Do businesses in the city really benefit from having our housing stock flattened for their patrons?  I mean, no matter how many demolitions in the city occur, there will never be enough parking.  So when is it enough?  When do we take the long view of our land development decisions and decide to say "no more".  It's just very frustrating and goes against everything Providence as a "walkable city" should stand for.  Of course, if we decide that the status quo is good enough, then we should be honest and admit that walk ability is just not as important making it easy to park our cars.
>
>---- Aaron Masri <amasri1 at cox.net> wrote: 
>
>=============
>I don't agree that more parking is needed on Thayer Street, but I get the point that people feel that this is the case.  This parking lot will provide 80 spaces.  There's a number of less destructive ways that 80 spaces can be created.  What about Brown University allowing parking in their private lots on the weekends?  They could also allow the public to park on those streets that the city abandoned when Mayor Taveras renegotiated the PILOT agreement.  They could add a deck to one of the surface lots they already own.  Or they could pursue one or more of the strategies outlined in the Planning Department Study that I linked.  It's sad that an institution such as Brown University with its vast resources is choosing the lowest possible usage for valuable real estate and not heeding the lessons learns by other preservation efforts, such as Benefit Street.
>---- Anne Diffily <adiff11 at gmail.com> wrote: 
>
>=============
>But is a multilevel parking garage any worse than a flat blacktop lot at
>ground level?
>
>The truth is that more parking is needed to absorb the needs of the Thayer
>commercial strip.... not just the stores serving local students, but lots
>of nice/interesting restaurants, the Avon Cinema, etc. that appeal to
>year-round residents.
>
>Just MHO.
>
>Anne
>
>
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