Folks sound off on the mayor's parking plan for NW Portland
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PORTLAND, Ore. - There's a parking war happening in Northwest Portland and dozens of people were venting about it at City Hall on Thursday.
Finding a parking spot in that area of town can be a challenge and Mayor Sam Adams is hoping to solve the problem with a combination of parking permits, meters and time limits.
The idea hasn't come without a bit of consternation from some of the residents and business owners.
"The cost and confusion of understanding where to park and how long you can park will work as a deterrent to our current level of people coming into this neighborhood," one man told city commissioners.
Still, there are some who think it's a good idea.
"We are pleased to support the overall plan," another man said. "We believe that the proposed plan is a step in the right direction and will serve our neighborhood well as residential density and commercial activity continue to increase in the coming years."
City Commissioner Amanda Fritz suggested some amendments to the proposal and said the public will have a chance to weigh in before changes are made. And those changes would happen in phases over a couple of years.
- Details of the plan (pdf)
Doesn't Shammy have some unused vacation he can take?
In Las Vegas, when a major parking problem arose downtown, the city just enacted "eminent domain" and confiscated property to build a parking garage. They claimed, at the time, that the garage would benefit the public. But guess what?? The parking garage was turned over to a major Hotel/Casino. Benefit the public?? Whom truly benefited here? The previous owners got shagged in compensation for that land too! They then fought the city for years to get an equitable settlement. Never did. The Eminent Domain scam can truly benefit cities who want land for a purpose. SO, PORTLAND CITY MANAGERS--EMINENT DOMAIN SOME USELESS BUILDING AND TURN IT INTO A PAID PARKING GARAGE FOR EVERYONE AND PROBLEM SOLVED.
as some one that use to have a shop in the nw 23rd area, i know personally how bad the parking is. People live in those areas and park 24/7. The shop owners and employees park all day. Hundreds work at the hospital and park there. The solution is not charging people to park. Plus, people are cheap and don't want to pay for parking (read commits posted). Ideally a parking structure with cheap rates (esp for employees and staff) would help greatly.  Â
Forget Portland and all it's self-defined problems. Just stay in your own communities and let Portland try to get by on its own merits, such as composting, no plastic bags for groceries on usually rainy days, and all the other stuff that the outgoing mayor would like to leave as his memorial!
Let me guess, most folks told Sammy where to shove it?
This is an easy...Merchants, listen up. I will not pay for parking, unless it is a very special occasion. There are is just way too much commerce available on the suburban eastside and suburban west side with free parking,  to put up with this additional cost just for the "honor?" to shop in downtown Portland or visit the Zoo (which we pay taxes
for already).. Portland can charge all they want, they won't get much from me (and others)....
 @PortlandEastside I must agree that I would rather shop elsewhere, I only go down there because the wife wants to or the kids from out of town are visiting and want to. BUT.... I would pay to park versus driving around looking for a parking spot for 30 minutes or more. And I do have sympathy for some of the residents down there. I am sure a lot of them moved in knowing they would fight parking all the time but some of them were there before NW Portland was "cool".
So they're going to add pay parking at the Zoo and pay parking in NW. These two locations are typical parking locations for people attempting to avoid downtown parking: the Zoo is a Park and Ride location for Downtown. The next step is to make all the Park and Ride locations paid parking to completely de-incentivize the use of public transportation.
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Add another $10/day for parking to the $5 for a round-trip bus ticket and it becomes cheaper to drive.
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The Zoo is a safe bet to charge parking because there is no nearby neighborhood parking but everyone will try to park at Sunset which is already overbooked everyday.
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The next step will be private shuttles from neighborhoods to Max locations. A guy with a small bus charges $1/person to shuttle drivers from unzoned "free" parking neighborhoods to Max depots. Eventually, every neighborhood will have to become parking protected.
You voted for this bed now lay in it.
 @oops I've never been happier to move then now.
I'm just going to throw this out there. How about the city or a private party builds a couple of parking garages in the vicinity. That would generate revenue and solve the crappy parking issues.
 @GleekerÂ
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Well you're going to have to tear something down to fit it in.
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See the city allowed building and development (and renovation) of what was some suburban like malls, a few warehouses and old homes into multiplexes and shabby sheik bars without requirement them to put in the parking usually demanded by planning and zoning (I recall working at a place where we had to wall off the basement because we were expanding the sales floor, stupid).
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Now that you have all this built up, to make room for such a structure you will have to tear something down. An historic house? What about a hipster apartment complex mad out of an old warehouse? The strip-mall turned into boutique bars and other "cute" little "small time" businesses?
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You're right though. One or two 200, 300 space structures would elevate all the pressure and then meters would be no big deal.
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 @Repoman  @GleekerÂ
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There are a couple of empty lots that just have parking but there is a city moratorium against building any new (multilevel) parking structures which was part of a long-term plan to encourage public transportation.
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Traditionally, parking lots are just a placeholder for future development or sale; a way that land speculators pay the mortgage, taxes, and upkeep of cheep property until they can sell it at a huge profit. In Portland, this is known as the "Goodwin Plan" but due to parking restrictions and close political connections the Goodwin family empire has a lock on any new parking and holds the city hostage for existing parking...and food karts.
 @Repoman  @GleekerÂ
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In short: all roads lead to Goodwin either blocking other developers or manipulating politics to negotiate a sweet deal for new development.Â
It looks like a ton of time went into researching this plan looking at the 100+ page pdf. Instead of enacting a sales tax, how about not wasting resources on stupid pet projects such as this?
Adams can't leave office soon enough. Let's hope that our incoming mayor does the right thing and throws this idea in the trash like a lot of Sammy's other ideas.
Now it will cost far more to park to ride the Max, than to park downtown in a long term lot. Lets screw the people that like to take their kids to the Zoo, Museum or Forestry center, Japanese Rose Gardens for some very educational, cultural activities! I need his address so I can have my dogs poop in his yard, being that they are taking away plastic bags which I use to obey the laws, and a place to throw my mothers, and my landline phone because she is to old for a cell and her budget can't handle anymore taxing, and maybe his yard would work for the bi-weekly garbage dump to compensate for the increase (15%) in fees, but half the service? Why can't this guy/girl just go away?
I sens Boots coming to Portland and Portland being like Detroit Michigan. God have mercey because now there will be real wars.. People will be cutting the boots, cars will be piling up at local yards..I am glad we just go to OHSU. It sounds like that they cramming Public transportation down people throat to.
 @lee986321 "they cramming Public transportation down people throat"
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You just move here? That's Samie and co's mantra...."public transportation for you! We don't care if you don't want it!"
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Oh yeah....Portland doesn't even belong in the same sentence as Detroit (unless it's "Detroit Lake is only 40 min from Portland").
 @deejm2112 I didn't mean nay Disrespect, but I seen that Show "Parking Wars" And Now I see it happening in Portland, I am just glad I live where we do. and thanks to all the stuff happening in the Larger cities, I have noted a heavy increase in traffic In Longview, it is becoming a mini Seattle.
 @deejm2112 We were thinking about moving then seen all this and decided to forget it. We'll just stay put, besides I don't think there are places that will take a 75 lb dog, and a cat lol
 @lee986321 I don't think public transit is a bad thing, but I don't think it's a solution for everyone. It can be very frustrating trying to find parking in NW Portland, and that's just when I'm looking to patron a business, I can't imagine how frustrating it is for residents! Hopefully they can find a reasonable way to solve some of the parking issue in NW Portland.
 @pdxd Thisis the reason why I stayed away from Portland. and only go to the malls with family if we do go there.
 @lee986321  @Jamie  @pdxd It's at Lloyd Center, Lee--and it's still there. Jantzen has the carousel.
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 @Jamie  @pdxd or one of the malls
 @Jamie  @pdxd They didn't do away with the Ice rink did they? I hink it was at Jantzen Beach?
 @lee986321  @pdxd Even the malls suck.
It's funny, people actually think Sam cares what they have to say.
@JTesla .......ain't that the truth !!
Sam Adams: Expanding our parking meters exponentially throughout the city! Now we cannot park for free anywhere near downtown!
 @portlandborn83 Or at the Zoo! (that one really pisses me off considering how much $ they got in bonds)
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It's still cheap and easy compared to real cities....try Boston or San Diego, now they have real problems.
 @deejm2112  @portlandborn83 the zoo lot is still FREE to park if you're not going to the zoo. They just ask you at the gate if you came in a car and they add the 4.00 to your admission. OMSI does the same thing. It sucks, especially considering the cost of the admission alone to both places, but at least if you are doing park and ride at Washington Park, you can still do it for free.
Ok, public - weigh in on this incredibly horrible parking plan.
 @washcomom Why? It isn't like the public has a say in this. Sammy wants to make this place a miserable place to live and he's doing a great job. But honestly, do you expect more from voters that had the change to get rid of him, considering they voted in Kitzslahber agin knowing full well he was already a POS.
 @Jamie  @washcomom Ok Confused, if he was Voted out then what is he still doing in Charge of things?
 @lee986321  @Jamie  @washcomom Lee, he wasn't voted out, he decided to not run for re-election (probably afraid he was going to be run out of town if he did go up again) and now we're simply waiting for his time in office to be over and for him to go away. We're all hoping his replacement does a better job.