fairfax co. gov't center is out near Fair Lakes, fairfax co. parkway and Route 66.
Posted on 07/07/2008 5:34:04 AM PDT by 3AngelaD
Think there's no such thing as too much parking? Take a look at Tysons Corner, where there's more parking than jobs, more parking than office space, more parking than in downtown Washington. That must change, said advocates and politicians seeking to transform Virginia's largest business hub from suburb to city. Reducing parking, charging for parking and finding new uses for the acres of parking that separate Tysons' buildings and the people inside is at the heart of plans to remake the area....
"Who wants parking spaces to be the hallmark of a development?" said Clark Tyler, chairman of a Fairfax County-appointed task force preparing a Tysons redevelopment plan for later this year... Taking a new approach to parking, by building less and charging more, is a central tenet of the new urbanism that has gripped planners...The planners said that parking, especially free parking, encourages people to drive....parking lots coat the ground with impervious asphalt that sends dirty runoff into rivers and streams...parking is often ugly and creates spaces that discourage walking or the use of a transit system.... Reducing the supply of parking is one way to change people's habits and patterns of development...Other crucial pieces include a grid of streets...and transit, which is why Tysons boosters have been pushing so hard for a Metrorail extension...
Tysons' dependence on the automobile, and a place to park it, is dramatic when compared with other areas. With about 120,000 jobs, Tysons features nearly half again as many parking spots...That's more parking, 40 million square feet, than office space, 28 million square feet. Tysons boasts more spaces, 167,000, than downtown Washington, 50,000, which has more than twice as many jobs....
Ultimately, Schwartz and other advocates said... drivers should pay a price for choosing to drive or be denied the privilege...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
You would think these idiots would learn that no one is going to go out of their way to take transit into the city to go shopping.
What a BS article! My firm is headquartered in Tysons and the only good thing about that area is that you can park - if you can survive the traffic jams during rush hour out that way. Plus, they act if there are hardly any jobs out there? There are TONS of jobs out there.
Sounds like the chairman of the local People's Council has his panties in a wad.
Indeed. In fact, most zoning rules mandate a certain ratio of parking spots to square feet of office space.
I imagine that a careful examination would show that our lords and masters in the Fairfax Taj Mahal (a/k/a the Government Center Building) required the number of parking spots found at Tyson’s Corner.
Jack
I am for a metro link to Tysons and IAD, but it should be below ground into Tysons.
"Sounds like the chairman of the local People's Council has his panties in a wad."
I think you hit it on the head. This is about control. Schwartz sounds like a neighborhood nazi writ large. Isn't it funny how liberals always seem to be for more and more controls and limitations on the peoples' lives?
I go to Tyson’s to shop just because the parking is such a pleasure: plentiful, free, safe, clean. Even if the traffic on Route 7 leaves something to be desired (I usually approach from 123, which isn’t all that bad), it is worth it. It would never occur to me to go to downtown DC to shop. I would prefer to have pointy sticks poked in my eyes. Sounds to me like our Overlords at the Taj Mahal want us all to be as miserable as district residents. They, of course, will continue to tool around in their county-provided Navigators and Escalades, with their parking provided free at taxpayer expense, while we schlep around on buses and Metro. Question: do they pay to park at the Taj? Or do they have spaces reserved with their names on them? Three guesses.
People don’t WANT “cities.” They want suburbs. Except for a very few main functions (sports complexes, central government and some banking), EVERYTHING can be “off loaded” to suburbs. I never go to downtown Dayton anymore, and don’t want to.
Mark
Other than the businesses, the employees, the customers, and anyone using the #1 form of transportation in the United States, I can't think of anyone.
There is an asphalt product that allows water to pass through. It's just not used much.
This goes well with the article from Sunday that said DC is looking to make people’s commutes so bad that they have to take Metro. They are taking away switchable lanes, removing parking, and talking about shutting down some major arteries (like the 395 tunnel).
They want people to live in DC, not drive there.
I say, let’s move the jobs into the suburbs. That way people are going both directions in the morning and afternoon, some driving in to jobs, some driving out. Doubles the road capacity for commuting, without switchable lanes.
Also, with $4 gas, it allows people to live 10 miles from work instead of 40.
fairfax co. gov't center is out near Fair Lakes, fairfax co. parkway and Route 66.
I believe the poster is referring to the Fairfax County government center in Fairfax City, not Tysons. The government center's main building is very grand and imposing with may acres of free parking around it.
An impressive place...perfect for worshiping the nanny state!
i am figuring the fairfax co bd of supervisors have thrones in their various offices in keeping with the decor....
I must be blind. I used to work for Nortel a couple of years ago and went out that way all the time.
it’s not really visible from 66 i don’t think. We used to have to go out there to pay personal property tax on cars before they got rid of that.
funny thing is that we live equidistant from Tysons and Fair Oaks and because i find it easier to park out at Fair Oaks that is where i go more often to shop. i really don’t consider the parking all that plentiful for shopping at Tysons, so i don’t know that i agree with the premise of the article. if i had to PAY to park while shopping [a la Pentagon City mall] I’d shop there even LESS!
And now we get to the heart of why liberals promote Global Warming. They want to eliminate cars from the face of the earth. Even when all cars emit zero pollution, they will want to eliminate cars from the face of the earth. They want everyone walking in their Birkenstocks or riding public transportation. They want a herd of sheep, not independent people traveling independently. That’s a fact.
I think before they get rid of parking, a pedestrian route accross the beltway at Rte 7 would be in order.
like the illegal alien pathway they are creating down at 7 corners, so that people can stop creaming them on the highway as they cross route 50?
Things in downtown Dayton I go to:
Mendelson's Surplus, and I understand that is going to be moving.
Canal Street Tavern.
Government offices and jury duty. I avoid the first as much as possible and the second has come up twice in the past decade.
Oh, I forgot about that bridge.
No, I meant something better than the one-foot wide walkway alongside Rte 7, that I have had to use, if I want to walk to work.
oh for Gods sake get on a bike like the rest of the earthwatchers and ride in the middle of the road so as to slow traffic even more. it’s the fallchurcher way.
LOLOLOLOL - pass.
But you are correct.
Well, I would not do that either. Covnersely, I live by Pentagon City Mall and can actually walk there.
Yes, we are more difficult to control and dictate to when we have our own cars.
Forgot to say, “Green: the new Red”
We shop at Tysons perhaps two or three times a year - my wife has her fur put away for summer storage at one of the Tysons II furriers and that accounts for two of the trips. Otherwise, it’s Fair Oaks which is just down the road for us. (When I moved to Fairfax in 1976, Fair Oaks was a large cornfield.)
I worked for 20 years in the District and I do not miss that trip one bit.
The Taj has special parking in the underground, secured garage for the upper echelon. You wouldn’t want them to get wet in the rain or accidentally rub elbows with a taxpayer, would you?
I particularly like the moat around the Taj, or at least it would be a moat if we had more rain. Reminds me of the defensive ditches one finds around European castles to keep the peasants with pitchforks at bay. Perhaps that was in the architect’s mind.
For one reason or another it seems that we visit the Taj at least once a year. It’s nice to see the walnut paneling and the artwork on the walls that I’ve paid for. Plusher than most of the “for profit” places I’ve worked. I suppose it helps the county workers think big thoughts.
We paid off the mortgage some years ago and the 6-month tax bill arrived a few days ago - $4,040. That has really set me off (not that it takes much) on how Fairfax County has zero concept of how to do anything other than spend money.
Jack
There’s a nifty design used in Germany that I like. The parking lot is surfaced with something like a rectangular open core concrete block, placed so the open core faces up. Looking at the top of the parking lot,it looks like [ ][ ][ ] and in the open core, grass grows. The concrete block provides support for the vehicle while the grass grows in the hollow core. Rain can soak in through the open grass area and it also stays much cooler than either asphalt or concrete with 100% coverage. Requires grass cutting, of course.
Jack
I have no doubt this is leading toward tyranny, the particular tyranny of the petty bureaucrat, but tyranny none the less. Obviously motivated peasants with pitchforks and burning torches have not reached critical mass yet. (God what a hidous mixed metaphor that is!) Anyway, maybe taking away their cars will make them reach for their pitchforks. I have a personal aversion for Gerry Connolly that knows no boundaries. I live in Alexandria so Tysons’ is much closer to me than Fair Oaks.
The old County office complex is in Fairfax City (Massey Building) but the new center is a couple miles west of Fairfax City.
The County outgrew the Fairfax City complex, and built at least three or four very large, very expensive buildings at the new center and then expanded the old Fairfax City complex as well. The old complex has become the justice center, with the jail, court house(s), police, etc. The administrative offices are in the new complex.
And, the Fairfax County school board wants a second office building, probably the old AAA headquarters at Route 50 and the Beltway (most recently it was the American Red Cross HQ.)
Hey, it’s only taxpayer dollars to build these grand buildings. Not like it’s important to save money. There’s a bottomless pit of tax revenue they can dip into.
Jack
Oh, I know. I am familiar with both the Old Massey building area and the new center on Monument Drive near Fairfax Corner. I just thought that the new center was still considered within the Fairfax City designation. I might be wrong.
I vaguely remember having to feed a meter at the County building some years ago, and it was a pain because I had no change whatsoever.
Uh-Oh!
I live in the middle of “flyoverland”, am as conservative as they come, and I wear Birkenstocks!
Quit pickin’ on us elderly with foot trouble, willya!
I can’t help the things the LibDemComs choose to stereotype themselves with. Birkenstocks are as much an item of the liberal stereotype as guns are of the Conservative stereotype. I’m sure some liberals own guns and go shooting, but it doesn’t negate the stereotype.
Well, my very conservative husband wears them because he has Parkinson’s and they are easy to slip on his feet. You see, he can’t bend over. He aslo has chronic venous insufficiency, and sandal birks fit over his compression stockings, and the thick wool socks he has to wear.
I wear them because I have a bad case of Morton’s neuroma, and want to avoid surgery.
Maybe you can start a conservative footwear company that will help aging feet, and won’t be “liberal stereotypical’?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.