This follows
Bike Rack(et)
24 Feb, 2014,
a few posts below.
Nelson's economy is completely dependent on motor-vehicles taking stuff and people in/through/out. Simply: Nelson wouldn't exist without them.
Thus voices proclaiming that more bike-racks added to the downtown-core will automatically add significantly more bicycles while disappearing private cars, taxis, buses, pick-ups, vans, RUVs, SUVs, trucks is naively utopian - Nelson at its most Brigadoon.
Motor-vehicles are here to stay. And the same voices championing this bike-utopia as the way to go today - accept the parallel dystopia of unavoidably increasing parking-needs.
While one or the other image is nudged forward - we haven't yet but need to find a way to accept/connect both, with a third component: those who walk.
The Walmart-Entrance Syndrome
With the increase of motor-vehicles - let's just call them cars here to simplify - particularly downtown will become more and more congested, what with the local mentality of parking-as-close-as-possible-to-the-Walmart-entrance. And the hoped-for more tourists - our bread-and-butter.
Downtown could be a much more pleasant - the ideal - experience without cars driving up-and-down Baker and parking there. Baker would be safer, much wider thus leave room for bike-lanes. But cars of those having downtown-business need to be put somewhere - and we wouldn't want to frighten the horses (tourists), so there needs be parking at least close by.
We don't have enough available space for additional horizontal parking - so clearly we need to go vertical: smallest possible base and going up from there.
It does have a - seemingly incongruous - right-on "feature" though. During the traditional and very well-attended annual downtown car-extravaganza - there's a dance on top of the parkade. Genius! I haven't been so I have nothing to say about what's going on, but there it is every year. A single event a year! I will come back to this.
We all know that Nelson is nice at a nice lake with nice mountains just like many other nice BC towns at a nice lake with nice mountains. Having really no industry except for growing weed (successfully!) and tourists (not so much!). The weed-thing is not legal-thus-reliable and could be at the end of its current course soon - so all we may be left with is tourism. Why they should come here, stay at least over-night and shop for tchotchkes is an open question. So Nelson needs something to make it unique: one big exceptional thing! Something to draw tourists to Nelson as a destination because of its quality.
An Exceptional Parkade
Today parking-garages have become part of an overall aesthetic - often designed by world-class architects. Not just functional as a temporary box for cars - but as a statement in themselves: to enter as an intriguing environment, to become part of, move around in and leave feeling transformed - day and night. A piece of lived-in art!
Taken further on various levels: parties, exhibits, small concerts (the sound!). Dances and performances on the roof.
With exclusive retail-space on the ground-floor and sheltered/guarded bike-storage close to the entrance - inside.
Because of its superb architectural quality people feel drawn to visit, park, shop and be entertained - they don't mind walking a few blocks from/to it. And once they are walking.....!
My parkade-suggestion to City Planning, 3 Feb 2012, elicited no response, and ideas for one large exceptional piece - instead of lots of bitsy busywork without a reason to live, like "artistically created" bike-racks - are usually met with that would cost millions and we haven't got them. Really meaning: a lack of vision of Nelson's future. Not artistic vision - vision, period!
Willingness leads to opening-up to a need leads to establishing a clear intention leads to funding. Looking at funding first precludes creative process.
From Brigadoon to Nelson!
That Nelson!
Parking Garages:
Sydney, Australia
Birmingham, England
Miami, Brooks + Scarpa
Miami, Florida
Santa Monica, California
Melbourne, Australia
"Motor-vehicles are here to stay."
ReplyDeleteWell. Sorta. But we might be in for some big, big changes in a very short time.
Every single auto manufacturer is promising an autonomous vehicle by 2018.
There are also a number of "taxi-app" services out there that are causing a major disruption in that industry. Each one of them plans on adding autonomous taxis to their fleets as soon as possible.
Many believe that in a very short time, car ownership could become a thing of the past. It won't happen overnight, and it will happen more slowly in a place like Nelson, but we could see the impact of this technology sooner than we think as people shed their second vehicles in favour of cheaper autonomous taxi rides.
When you are planning a city... you have to consider this sort of thing, and it's not going to start happening in 50 years. It's going to star happening in 5. You might think I sound crazy, but far smarter and far, far rich people than you and I are banking on it.
Also... if you could travel back 20 years and tell yourself that for a mere $30 you would have a pocket-sized supercomputer that allows you to access all human knowledge, and achieve incredible feats of planning, you would probably think that sounded crazy. Yet, here we are.
Sorry, but bike racks are a good idea, parking garages... maybe no so much. (Though hey... if anybody wants to build something in the Vernon Street hole that has 4 stories of underground parking... that would be great.
Whoops... meant to say "$30 per month" re that supercomputer.
ReplyDelete