Little Italy Parking Panacea? Hardly

Published: Wednesday, August 1, 2007 7:46 AM PDT

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From today's U-T:

Little Italy project has a developer
Plan includes up to 700 parking spots for public

Finding a parking spot in Little Italy will be a whole lot easier under a proposed development that would provide up to 700 spaces for public use on nights and weekends.

This deserves some perspective. First, these will be paid parking spots and it is not hard to find paid parking spots if you can't find a free one in Little Italy on a night or weekend. Not hard at all. That's bound to get worse, I suppose, but let's be clear.

Secondly, the headline implies we'll get 700 new public parking spots. Hmm, let's review:

The county of San Diego has a plan that Ron Roberts deserves credit for championing. They plan to rip out the two massive parking lots that sit on both the north side of the County Administration Building and the south side. Those parking lots encompass 16.62 acres, which the county wants to turn to a park.

That's great. Really. Roberts and his staff don't believe me when I tell them how enthusiastic I am about it.

Here's Roberts' vision:

If you can't tell, I think that would be very funny.

No, the county, under Roberts' lead, engineered a plan to build this new parking garage in Little Italy. And they're using a public-private partnership that is now the preferred way to plan big civic projects in San Diego.

As the U-T reports, the developer of that new parking garage plans to have it hold 968 parking spaces. But the new development will also have 268 apartments. So, I suppose if you assume that each apartment will only get one of those spots, then that leaves 700 spots available. (These apartments are characterized as "luxury" places. It's not very luxurious to only have one spot per apartment.)

Two small parking garages under the new waterfront park will be built but they comprise about 160 spots total and I would bet that you have to be pretty cool to get one of those spots.

The environmental impact report the county did on its waterfront park plan found that county employees were going to need 671 parking spaces. And visitors to the county building have always enjoyed parking for free for two hours in one of the 178 visitor spots. Those will be eliminated as well.

So let's look back. Yes, hundreds of new parking spots will be built in Little Italy, but hundreds of new parkers will be looking for them.

If you think that you're going to be able to find a parking spot at lunchtime in Little Italy any easier than you can now, think again. County employees will make sure they get most of the spots in the new garage from 9 to 5.

Now, those county employees will drive home at some point. So, if you're getting dinner or partying at the Princess Pub and simply can't find a free space on the street, yes, you will have a new option to pay for parking. There are plenty of parking lots in the area that charge a fee right now, but whatever.

The moral is simple: Support Roberts plan for the vision it has for a new beautiful park on the waterfront if you want to. But don't let anyone tell you to support it because it will provide more parking.

It will barely replace the parking it eliminates.

-- SCOTT LEWIS

6 Comments so far on this story...

Parking downtown is a problem because everyone drives and everyone wants free parking. In Shingletown, CA, I can park for free, no problem, but in San Diego I often pay. Sometimes I can park for free downtown, and like any other monkey, I'll take the free over paid parking if it's within a few blocks walk. The downtown 'redevelopment orgy' (referred to by Gary London a while back) did not adequately take into consideration the parking needs for downtown, and further, the new update to the Downtown Community Plan did not come close to mandating enough off street parking to get the residential cars off the street and to where they belong: in mothballed stalls four stories underground. Good people who want less cars downtown mistake building parking spaces for encouraging driving -- actually it encourages parking.

Posted by Christopher Hall | reply to this comment
July 31, 2007 11:24 pm

And so there is a fight between those who want an adequate supply of parking to make access equal for all people and those who want to restrict parking, cause an artificial parking crisis, and force people out of their cars and onto the street. The latter group thinks negative reinforcement is better than positive reinforcement. I happen to believe there should be scads of underground parking for residential and workers -- keep their cars out of sight and out of mind -- while providing adequate supply of parking for customers, partiers, visitors, contractors, delivery people, etc. The fact is that people will walk once downtown, and making them pay exorbitant amounts of money to park will just drive them away to Midway in Pt. Loma, NTC, PB, OB and La Jolla. Do not believe the good intentions of those who play the parking shell game.

Posted by Christopher Hall | reply to this comment
July 31, 2007 11:35 pm

At least we get a waterfront park. That is nice--if it happens and isn't carved up by concrete. And maybe the lack of parking is a long-term blessing - residents will start lobbying for more public transit and maybe it will happen.

Posted by Greg | reply to this comment
August 1, 2007 12:24 am

Providing subsidized parking just increases the incentive for people to drive downtown, adding to traffic congestion. I've been dropping my car off at my wife's job, and hopping the bus. You now what? It's not that bad. I actually like not having to worry about gas and parking. I found out I can ride from USD to downtown in about 30 minutes. Sure it's a bit longer than a drive, but it's very convenient. I'm married with two kids, all my family members go their own separate ways during the day. I'm sure we're not the only ones who can find a way to integrate public transportation into their lives, if only for part of the day or week. Also, what about automated garages? Less land, more parking.

Posted by Jason | reply to this comment
August 1, 2007 7:38 am

While a waterfront park is a nice idea, let's be real, Scott. This is the same sucker punch the peasants take to the gut every time a new plan for massive redevelopment gets bruited for anyplace downtown. I still have the drawings for the parks, fountains, etc. that the ballpark clowns floated to clinch the city beautiful crowd and a waterfront grassland will be no different. Rather, look for a couple of non-descript, ugly column buildings to flank the County Building with all the "luxury" amenities you describe. Private-Public Partnerships are no substitute for intelligent planning, good design and adequate parking allotment.

Posted by Ron for Gardener! | reply to this comment
August 2, 2007 1:26 am

Excuse me, but where did that "park design" picture come from? I attended numerous meetings regarding plans for those parks with Hargreaves and Associates and I don't know who else was paid thousands of dollars to consult and work on the design for this project. We saw and talked about "garden rooms" and unique GARDENS with different settings and seatings breaking up the space on one side of the building and leaving it open on the other. Just where did this "design" for two open grass spots with nothing but rows of trees come from? Was this drawn up at the Home Depot Lawn & Garden Center? If Ron wants his front lawn to be grand - someone please show him some examples of what fabulous can look like! Or is this just another cheap way out?

Posted by Marti K | reply to this comment
August 6, 2007 12:40 am

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