Video: State of Parking in South Baltimore

In Federal Hill, Locust Point, News, Politician Interviews, Riverside, SBNA, Videos / By / / 6 comments

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Here is a portion of my sit down with Councilman William Cole where we discussed the state of parking in South Baltimore. The conversation included a discussion on what can be done to help alleviate the parking issues and how mass transit can improve.

 

 

 

 
 
 

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  • bmoreguy

    Thank you for posting the excellent and informative video.  Angled parking is definitely the way to go.  I know some folks have a problem with it but it’s proven to be effective.  Also, the Circulator is great as is the addition of Zipcars but I don’t think either can replace cars for enough of the people that currently live here.  I use the Circulator to get around the city on weekends and enjoy the different neighborhoods on the route but I work in the county and require a car to get to and from work.  Given the great nightlife here and our proximity to the stadiums I think South Baltimore will continue to attract a younger, multiple car per household demographic for a long time to come.    This is great in one regard because the streets are safe and walkable and almost always active but it does nothing for the parking situation.   I do have a few questions though:

    1) Is there an advantage to having an area 30, 9, and 19 parking zone as opposed to one combined zone?

    2) Are these new apartment complexes going to have their own parking?

    3) Councilman Cole mentioned a site on W. Ostend St near the post office.  There are at least four concrete barriers that are blocking a few potential parking spots on the side of race st where the post office sits.  While that wouldn’t solve all of the parking woes here it seems like removing any barrier regardless of how minor would help. 

    4) This may seem a little pie in the sky but would the city be willing to possibly provide a tax credit for the owners who rent homes to convert the backyards to parking pads?  I know that not all homes in South Baltimore can have parking pads so i’m not sure on how large of a scale this can be done at. 

    5) Would any potential parking garage or lots be strictly for residents who already have residential parking permits or is it something that would be an additonal cost?  Also, given the size of South Baltimore it seems that quite a few of these would be necessary as well as cost effective for the younger residents who are already combining resources to be able to afford to live here.

     

  • Bill Cole

    1) Large RPP zones don’t work very well for a variety of reasons.  Most notably, people on the southern end of area 30 would be inclined to drive to the northern end of area 9 to cut down on a long walk to downtown (we see it now in area 8, in fact).

    2) There is an off-street parking requirement for apartment buildings.  By and large, the factor is greater than 1 space per unit.

    3) That Race Street project has dragged on too long, but the end is in sight.  Those barriers cannot be moved until the underlying utility issues are resolved.  My understanding is that a contractor should be finishing soon.

    4) Not sure we could do anything like that

    5) There is no scenario where you can create additional off-street parking for free.  Structured parking costs are through the roof right now — $30,000/space or more(!) — so expect to pay regardless of where the parking exists.  That’s precisely why developers have to charge for parking on these new apartment complex facilities.  They have to be able to pay back the debt service on those garages.

    • bmoreguy

       Thanks for taking the time to reply.  I haven’t lived here too terribly long so I don’t know all of the ins and outs of how things work but I really do love living here.  I think in the short term getting people to warm up to the idea of angled parking might be the most inexpensive way to go while continuing to look for long term solutions. 

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  • Holly

    I don’t understand why Riverside does not have permit parking.  All of the surrounding areas have permit parking and have even made their restrictions more stringent in the past couple of years.  This has caused non-residents to take up all of the parking in Riverside because it is totally unrestricted.  Adding permit parking to the Riverside area would be a good start in alleviating some of the parking issues.  

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Lynch/1259877595 Kevin Lynch

      In the South Baltimore Neighborhood it’s block by block petitioning.  If you start a petition and get a certain percentage of your block neighbors to sign in it, you can get permit parking. It doesn’t make that big of a difference in my opinion, and crushes the blocks that don’t have it, and make guests hesitant to come by.  But every new block that gets permitting overpopulates all the blocks that don’t, then everyone eventually needs it and our guests have nowhere to go.  

      I understand permit parking had to be done because of our proximity to the stadiums and inner harbor/downtown, but it also creates a big mess for all the blocks that aren’t permit parking.  

      Last time I lived in Area 30, the lady at the parking authority told me my home didn’t exist, I lived in 46, she said the block ended at 44, face palm!