[Vision2020] Sixth Street Parking Restrictions

[Robert Dickow]

I live on 6th street where the no-parking policy is being considered. I hope
they don't do it, for the following reasons:

(1) This is a residential area without deep frontages to the homes. Traffic
noise may increase without the beneficial buffering provided by parked cars.

(2) Parking is hard to find already, since the south side has been 'no
parking this side' for many years. About 50% of the homes only have 1-car
garages. When I had guests one Sunday I had to park near East City Park,
some 250 yards away from my home.
(3) Cosmetics. Many homes on the south side of 6th already have had to build
ad-hoc parking areas cut into their lawn areas off their drives. I have seen
a few homes recently with cars parked on the lawns. I had to do that a few
times myself. This is uglier than cars parked on the street. My lawn is
getting compacted already, and I'm worried about my lovely Norway maple
tree.
(4) Lack of street side parking will reduce home values. This may impact
county property assessed values and lower future tax revenues from property
tax. I know from personal experience the last time we refinanced our home
that the property is worth less just because it is on a busy street.
(5) Traffic speed may increase, although recent studies have not shown any
increase in average speed at all. As a resident here, I'd rather the speed
decrease from the posted 30mph to 25mph anyway. While one could argue that
traffic throughput to the eastern residential developments will be improved,
this improvement would be negligible. Given the length of the street from
downtown, increases in speed in arriving home for those folks amounts to
about a 12-20 second time savings only. But that point appears moot.
(6) There were no unusual levels of reports of accidents caused by the
presence of parked cars.
(7) The sheriff's office (or police dept) allegedly has encouraged the
elimination of parked cars. I suppose this is to get them to the scenes of
emergencies more quickly. Heck, I used to see them tearing down 6th with
their lights on just fine, thanks, parked cars and all. Without parked cars
on 6th, the bad guys can get away quicker too, don't forget.

Bob Dickow, troublemaker

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Tom Hansen
<snip>

A very interesting (and controversial) topic will be discussed at
tonight's (May 18, 2009) Moscow City Council session.

Courtesy of the Moscow City Council agenda for May 18, 2009 . . .

"6th Street Parking Plan - Presented by Les MacDonald

During the recent winter snow removal operations, temporary no parking
restrictions were placed on Sixth Street between Blaine and Logan Streets.
This restriction was implemented in order to facilitate more efficient and
complete snow removal on this Collector classification roadway. After the
temporary restriction was installed questions began to arise as to whether
the restriction should be made permanent. <snip>