Antone's Nightclub
Parking Solution: Meter the Millionaires
RECEIVED Mon., May 27, 2013
Dear Editor,
As one of the many fans of Casa de Luz, I read with interest about [Council Member] Chris Riley's proposal for allowing businesses to pay to use underutilized park parking [“Open City Parks for Business Parking?” News, May 24]. While I appreciate Riley's efforts to be a problem solver, I can see the issues with this proposal, as outlined in the article. I have a much better suggestion: How about installing parking meters for every parking space in every city park where there is high demand or potential use by nearby businesses? Not only will this provide the Parks Department with a much-needed infusion of cash, but with metered parking, as a taxpayer, I couldn't care less who uses the parking spaces at Butler Shores Park (or Auditorium Shores, Zilker, Deep Eddy, etc.) as long as they're feeding the meter. While "many members of the community" will howl in rage at such a proposal, the real question to be asking is why the more than 700,000 Austinites who never use these parking spaces are being asked to subsidize the handful of – let's face it – mostly upper middle-class citizens who regularly utilize these free parking spaces? The reason we don't have bike lanes on Riverside Drive next to Auditorium Shores is because some people in Bouldin Creek insisted that they needed free parking at Auditorium Shores in order to drive the two blocks from their house to the park; no, I'm not making this up. I frequent urban parks with my two children as well, but we almost always go by bike. By not metering the parking spaces at Auditorium Shores, the city is basically asking me to pay for free parking for some self-entitled Bouldin Creek millionaire who is too lazy to walk or bike the two blocks from his or her house to the park. That's fucking absurd. Meter that shit, and let's move on.
As one of the many fans of Casa de Luz, I read with interest about [Council Member] Chris Riley's proposal for allowing businesses to pay to use underutilized park parking [“Open City Parks for Business Parking?” News, May 24]. While I appreciate Riley's efforts to be a problem solver, I can see the issues with this proposal, as outlined in the article. I have a much better suggestion: How about installing parking meters for every parking space in every city park where there is high demand or potential use by nearby businesses? Not only will this provide the Parks Department with a much-needed infusion of cash, but with metered parking, as a taxpayer, I couldn't care less who uses the parking spaces at Butler Shores Park (or Auditorium Shores, Zilker, Deep Eddy, etc.) as long as they're feeding the meter. While "many members of the community" will howl in rage at such a proposal, the real question to be asking is why the more than 700,000 Austinites who never use these parking spaces are being asked to subsidize the handful of – let's face it – mostly upper middle-class citizens who regularly utilize these free parking spaces? The reason we don't have bike lanes on Riverside Drive next to Auditorium Shores is because some people in Bouldin Creek insisted that they needed free parking at Auditorium Shores in order to drive the two blocks from their house to the park; no, I'm not making this up. I frequent urban parks with my two children as well, but we almost always go by bike. By not metering the parking spaces at Auditorium Shores, the city is basically asking me to pay for free parking for some self-entitled Bouldin Creek millionaire who is too lazy to walk or bike the two blocks from his or her house to the park. That's fucking absurd. Meter that shit, and let's move on.
Patrick Goetz
