Quote:
Originally Posted by animatedmartian
Maybe this is a sign that mass transit ought to be taken seriously in Detroit. Does any other urban core have this problem of not enough parking but loads of vacant space? Or is it more about generating revenue from every building having it's own parking block?
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Here in downtown Chicago there is absurd amounts of parking, but its mostly hidden. Obviously Chicago has loads of rail transit to assist people getting to work, but the difference here is
parking garages are shared. Workers look for the best deal and often walk 4 blocks to their office. The cost to park your vehicle downtown in the Loop on the workday is just a couple more dollars than a downtown Detroit office worker would pay.
That said, it's something psychological about being very close to your vehicle that sets Detroit apart from other large cities. Technically Detroit's parking is well supplied and centralized enough that transit isn't necessary at this moment, but will absolutely be necessary for future economic growth. For every spot you build a deck, you could have built hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space.