The C.R.A.P. Plan ("Create A Parking Problem" )

As I see it, there are three legitimate issues with parking downtown that actually need to be dealt with. Residents need somewhere to park overnight. Snow needs to be removed (not just moved) much more quickly from downtown streets and parking lots. Two-hour parking needs to be limited to Glen Street and Ridge Street and other places customers are most likely to park when downtown.

So, lets agree that there are some changes that are necessary. In my mind, the plan the council just passed seems to do little, if anything, to fix these actual problems and was more a precursor of the permit plan they seem intent on passing a few weeks down the road. It would seem to me that what just passed was stage one of a plan we should call the CR.A.P. plan (the Create a Parking Problem plan). Stage two will be to force us into permit parking which, as it sits, seems designed to DECREASE available parking space (I will explain further). Why would the council pass anything like this? Why not wait, as Chris Scoville suggested, until we have a comprehensive plan and then we can debate that, modify it and pass it ... together. What is the rush to get this all done today? Who's pushing? I, and many others, fail to see the immediacy.

For those who feel we have an issue with space, we need to remember that the City graciously allowed Bruce Levinsky to use our Clinton Street parking lot. In return, he will be giving us back the 51 public spaces that were there originally. Why not wait until this lot re-opens before forcing any parking plan or restriction on any of us? I have great concerns about this lot becoming a $480 a year permit parking lot as the Mayor insists it should be. Thats simply not right.

If stage two of the C.R.A.P. plan goes through, we will have permits available to those who can afford them and then, according to the Mayor, these spaces allocated for permit parking will cease to be available to anyone else. In other words, if we sell 200 permits, then 200 spaces will never be available again to anyone but those 200 permit holders. This will create a huge problem because currently ALL parking spaces "rotate". In other words, its more than likely that far more than one car parks in any one parking spot in any 24 hour period. If someone who is currently a permit holder goes away on vacation, someone else without a permit can use their space. This will no longer happen and that will severely reduce the number of spaces available downtown.

If we develop a real parking problem sometime in the future due to actual growth, then we will need to talk about all of the things the mayor did on Tuesday night; satellite lots, shuttles and perimeter parking. These would all be reasonable suggestions if Glens Falls actually HAD a parking problem. But, right now, we don't and we are missing 51 spaces in the Clinton Street lot. It would certainly seem then that the council's passing of this plan was putting the cart before the horse. They just voted to develop a problem, not to resolve one.

Now, why would any municipality want to develop a parking problem? The answer is simple. Some of those within our midst REALLY REALLY REALLY want a parking garage. They see an empty, hulking, chunk of concrete that blocks out the sun as economic development and as proof to other potential investors (speculators) that we can get big projects done here in Glens Falls (its kind of like putting bigger tires on your tiny truck).

The buzz is that Larry Bulman and Todd Shimkus are going to travel to DC to ask our elected officials for pork to build this totally unnecessary garage. I, for one, am embarrassed that our community would allow its envoys to go to the capitol begging for money for something we all know we do not need. If we really want some bailout money, lets ask for some to help out all the people who have been laid off over the last several months. Glens Falls has the dubious honor of having the highest unemployment rating in New York State (7.7 %). With homes about to be foreclosed on, businesses shutting their doors and people needing help to buy food and pay for heat, our city government really needs to get its priorities straight.