"Boulder needs enough parking to support shoppers and workers who drive, but not so much parking that driving remains the easiest way to get around town ... planners are working on this year seeks to connect the city's approach to parking with other city goals, including economic vitality and environmental sustainability."
ROTFLOL!
Heaven forbid that shopping in Boulder shouldn't be JUST the right amount of hassle. You know, like the perfect temperature for porridge. I have news for these fools: people don't shop on bicycles, because it's really, really, really hard to haul groceries, furniture, lumber, landscape materials, and such on the back of bicycles, especially when it's too far away, it's too cold, too hot, too windy, too icy, too rainy, too dark or too snowy, or one is too old or too feeble. On the other hand, if you're a fit 25 year old and you need to shop for something weighing less than 10 pounds during the 1% of the time it's safe, convenient, practical and comfortable to ride a bike, then by all means lets orient our entire parking strategy based on that particular rare situation. BTW, do these fools not understand that their insane parking philosophy massively discriminates against about 99% of the population?
At any rate, I do have a positive suggestion: everyone involved in parking decision-making in Boulder from the Boulder Council on down (and their families) should eschew ANY shopping by automobile for six months. That way they can figure out the perfect temperature for porridge, uh, I mean the optimal amount of parking hassle they should impose upon their fellow citizenry. Still, Boulder keeps electing these fools, so I guess the majority of Boulderites are quite happy with the insanity.
They want “controlled inconvenience.” And, it’s politically motivated by green concerns which drive planning. A story endlessly repeated around the country these days.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to use that in a letter to the editor. Here, town council has decided that parking on the same street for over an hour, even if you move your car to another spot 100 feet away, is worth a $40. fine.
Every city wants to bring back businesses to rejuvenate the downtown. Then they put in parking meters in the already crowded parking. Why would you drive downtown to very dangerous (to you and your car) stores and then have to drive several blocks to the next store and park again when you can go to any strip mall and park once, for free, and do everything you need?
Oh, and let’s not forget all the homeless between you and your car downtown which the stores can’t legally do anything about. But the mall and the strip mall are private so they can run them off and you’ll have a more enjoyable and safer shopping experience.
Tallahassee wanted to strangle the east/west roads to “force people to ride the bus.” They did reduce one of the two major east/west roads to just two lanes; Brick, winding, with large vegetation choked islands. Oh, they look so lovely and you get to see a lot of them as the max speed it 25 mph. But the public outcry about the six lane road stopped them. There hasn’t been a Republican in office here since reconstruction.
Boulder govt. is courtesy of the same horde of cockroaches that left Detroit in such wonderful shape. The Socialists are turning Colorado into another basket case. When they’re done crapping on it, they’ll move on to another state to turn blue and destroy.
I avoid The People’s Democratic Republic of Boulder at all cost. Will not deal with their red light and speed cams, Prius and spandex bikers. I refuse to get a visa to go there.
I didn’t think people drove in Boulder. After all it causes global warming.
“BTW, do these fools not understand that their insane parking philosophy massively discriminates against about 99% of the population?”
They really think this is the way to get people to junk their cars and switch to mass transportation (in everything, not just shopping). Taking the “T” in Boston to get downtown was doing no retailers any favors; as you point out, how much could I possibly carry out?
I don’t know about Boulder, but any city that has unassimilated gibsmedats will have a hard time convincing working stiffs to risk their personal safety on a bus or train.
I suggest that every resident of Boulder - no outsiders - be allocated ‘Parking Points’ based on age, gender (or lack thereof), and health . Once the points are spent on parking and exhausted, the now pointless person will simply have to park at the out-of-town big box stores and shop there. Bye bye Pearl Street!
I’ve been to Boulder ONCE. That was to see Charlton Heston speak.
I've been to Boulder many times, and agree it's insanity to put people on bicycles for everything. At least it's mostly flat there. Here in the SF Bay Area, the liberal tax-wasters spent millions on bike paths displacing cars (halving the number of auto lanes). We've got lots of bike paths going up steep hills. I've yet to see bikers using many of them around my neighborhood. Try hauling your groceries on a bike up a steep street. Most of these hypocrite bike owners also have big SUV's for that. You can get some people on bikes, but cars are here to stay.