If there is one passion in the city of Amsterdam that rivals its primary passion of demolition , it is the resulting parking lots from demolition. How else can we so lovingly mimic the suburbs without the attendant expanse of parking? How else can we draw industry unless we have expanses of asphalt?
For the most recent testament, I encourage you to view the parking lot at the former museum on 300 Guy Park Avenue in what is deemed to be the ‘historic district’ according to our zoning. If you want to understand why I commented that parking lots should cost $25 thousand per space with an attendant $1000 per space fee, I encourage you to take a look at how we expect to establish ‘historic districts’ with utter disregard for historic character or neighborhoods. And yes, I am serious about the parking lot fee structure.
I also encourage you to review this post from Reuters on cities and parking lots with the salient portion here:
Parking lots are — with only a handful of exceptions — the best possible way of destroying a city’s soul. They’re gruesome, lifeless places, and I’m constantly astonished by the way in which governments and developers are convinced that they’re a great idea. Instead, local government should act as a brake on private developers’ desires to build out new parking: while that might (or might not) be good for an individual commercial operation, it can at the same time be bad for the city as a whole. Cambridge is living proof that this can be done: other cities, including New Haven and Hartford, should follow its lead.
