No Parking
I am continually amazed at how many Ohio towns suffer from a lack of parking. What is even more surprising is that almost every town that suffers from a lack of parking also suffers from a dearth of successful businesses. How can this be? The answer is, is that it cant. Parking has become the boogie man of downtown revitalization and takes the blame for every other short coming in the district. Don’t get me wrong, parking is important to downtown and necessary for growth, but so few communities actually suffer from this problem, and those that do, are happy to have the problem. It means they are drawing a crowd and crowds are good for downtown. Some of the best downtown in the state have inadequate public parking and even fewer have parking decks. They have a draw and people are willing to walk for a business worth visiting. Think about when people visit a mall. No one thinks twice about walking a couple of hundred yards to get to their destination. The same happens when a downtown has a signature event. People park blocks away and don’t feel put out about walking five minutes, because they have a destination they deem worth visiting. Parking is not a problem; parking is far too often an excuse for a lack of good business. Blaming the lack of parking for an empty downtown is like saying a Jonas Brothers concert would have been better if there were only more seats available. In no other facet of business do we cite a lack of supply as the reason for the lack of demand.
Jeff Siegler
Director of Revitalization
Wow, how mis-informed you are about parking being the root cause to a business or business district’s success. I can’t believe anyone who is the Director for Revitalization, anywhere, would make the suppositions and claims made here. Obsessing with providing parking of any sort (free or paid) is the go-to silver bullet that people (often merchants/business) harp on when they have a clue what, if anything, would actually improve their business. Downtown’s that go overboard with this fetish become hollowed-out wastelands. People don’t want to spend their time or money to visit a parking lot. Plus, “free/cheap parking” is merely an artificial subsidy for those who have to drive every single place they go; at the expense of the rest of us who simply know better.
My Apologies for the over-the-top rhetoric, but I do seriously believe the issue almost always amount to being a red herring. In all the years that I have researched and advised Main Streets (in Boston and beyond) we have not once found that expending any form of public resources to provide for more parking to be effective. Further, we have not once found any convincing evidence of an insufficient parking supply as the the driving factor behind a business failure or overall downtown decline. Typically the evidence is pretty resounding that successful places always have a healthy amount of congestion; and a limited supply of free parking. But I digress…I know the issue does certainly come-up a great deal, but it’s almost always a futile matter to prioritize.
Jeff, I very much appreciate your most diplomatic and engaging follow-up e-mail to my otherwise brash, and mis-conceived assault…posted above. I suggest time and again that one always be careful to not just fire from the hip and that is exactly my error above. I appreciate the lesson in humility and the gracious comity of Mr. Siegler.