Broadway Effort Asks For Authority To Buy Land For Parking Garage
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Despite the push to make Downtown a transit and pedstrian-oriented community, Los Angeles is still a city centered around the car.
In order to accommodate those who would visit revived theatres or work in new office spaces, the Bringing Back Broadway project is asking City Council for the authorization to build one or more new parking garages on Broadway.
The effort asks for the authority to acquire land and partner on new garages, as well as the permission to negotiate with existing garages to keep their facilities open later into the night.
The report, filed on January 23, says that there are currently 5,238 off-street spaces serving Broadway, and that during the daytime those spaces are near 100% occupancy.
While the report doesn't mention specific properties, the effort is targeting the stretch of Broadway between 6th and 9th for garage creation. Funding for the effort would come from MICLA, the Municipal Improvement Corporation of Los Angeles.
The motion will next go to council's Transportation committee, before moving on to the full Council.
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seb on January 27, 2009, at 03:10PM – #1
Can't one of the surface parking lots be turned into underground parking lot with 2 or 3 levels to accomodate more cars?
JM on January 28, 2009, at 09:35AM – #2
This is good news. I've been worried about this for some time now. Whenever I visit neighboring cities, I think their parking systems are generally well thought-out and affordable, compared to our chaos. Parking is increasingly becoming a problem Downtown, and this coming from someone who loves to walk and take public transportation. We have to be realistic when we consider Downtown's future and cars will not magically disappear.
nirad on January 28, 2009, at 03:08PM – #3
It would be nice to get rid of some of the street parking on the cross-streets where the sidewalks are too narrow, like 5th and 6th. And it would be nice to have some of those huge parking lots replaced with parks. Perhaps if we could turn some of those lots into garages and others into parks, we could increase the total number of spaces while also improving pedestrian friendliness and quality of life.
JM on January 29, 2009, at 09:00AM – #4
I think we'll increasingly have to turn to underground facilities, like in Japan where there are entire malls underground that link up with subway stations. Surely we can add some public facilities with affordable parking?
Bert Green on January 29, 2009, at 03:40PM – #5
I'm OK with providing parking to the public, but I am totally against installing entry and exit access points for cars on mid-block sections of Broadway. That would be totally at cross purposes with the intent of creating a pedestrian environment. Parking access must be set up in the alleys or side streets.