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Where the Car Is King, Tysons (VA) Faces a Dilemma Urban Planners Take Aim at Free Parking
Washington Post ^ | July 5, 2008 | Amy Gardner

Posted on 07/07/2008 5:34:04 AM PDT by 3AngelaD

Think there's no such thing as too much parking? Take a look at Tysons Corner, where there's more parking than jobs, more parking than office space, more parking than in downtown Washington. That must change, said advocates and politicians seeking to transform Virginia's largest business hub from suburb to city. Reducing parking, charging for parking and finding new uses for the acres of parking that separate Tysons' buildings and the people inside is at the heart of plans to remake the area....

"Who wants parking spaces to be the hallmark of a development?" said Clark Tyler, chairman of a Fairfax County-appointed task force preparing a Tysons redevelopment plan for later this year... Taking a new approach to parking, by building less and charging more, is a central tenet of the new urbanism that has gripped planners...The planners said that parking, especially free parking, encourages people to drive....parking lots coat the ground with impervious asphalt that sends dirty runoff into rivers and streams...parking is often ugly and creates spaces that discourage walking or the use of a transit system.... Reducing the supply of parking is one way to change people's habits and patterns of development...Other crucial pieces include a grid of streets...and transit, which is why Tysons boosters have been pushing so hard for a Metrorail extension...

Tysons' dependence on the automobile, and a place to park it, is dramatic when compared with other areas. With about 120,000 jobs, Tysons features nearly half again as many parking spots...That's more parking, 40 million square feet, than office space, 28 million square feet. Tysons boasts more spaces, 167,000, than downtown Washington, 50,000, which has more than twice as many jobs....

Ultimately, Schwartz and other advocates said... drivers should pay a price for choosing to drive or be denied the privilege...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: development; fairfaxcounty; freedom; landuse; liberty; masstransit; parking; socialengineering; transportation; tysonscorner; urbanism; urbanplanning
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Funny, I don't remember anybody running for local office in Fairfax County on a platform that included lowering the number of parking spaces available in Tysons. Of course County Supervisor, Gerald Connally, who is running for Congress so he can spread this gospel across the nation, did run on an anti-automobile platform but I thought that was just because the company he works for wants to build Metro out there. Silly me. So here it is. They -- being our Overlords, and no doubt including Al Gore -- want to banish our cars and herd us all into "transit systems." This is tyranny as sure as anything I heard in years. Gee, and I wonder who will be collecting all those nice, new parking fees.
1 posted on 07/07/2008 5:34:05 AM PDT by 3AngelaD
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To: 3AngelaD

You would think these idiots would learn that no one is going to go out of their way to take transit into the city to go shopping.


2 posted on 07/07/2008 5:39:10 AM PDT by pnh102 (Save America - Ban Ethanol Now!)
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To: 3AngelaD

What a BS article! My firm is headquartered in Tysons and the only good thing about that area is that you can park - if you can survive the traffic jams during rush hour out that way. Plus, they act if there are hardly any jobs out there? There are TONS of jobs out there.


3 posted on 07/07/2008 5:39:36 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: 3AngelaD
Ultimately, Schwartz and other advocates said... drivers should pay a price for choosing to drive or be denied the privilege...

Sounds like the chairman of the local People's Council has his panties in a wad.

4 posted on 07/07/2008 5:44:23 AM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Barack Hussein Obama=Jimmy Carter Part Deux)
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To: 3AngelaD

Indeed. In fact, most zoning rules mandate a certain ratio of parking spots to square feet of office space.

I imagine that a careful examination would show that our lords and masters in the Fairfax Taj Mahal (a/k/a the Government Center Building) required the number of parking spots found at Tyson’s Corner.

Jack


5 posted on 07/07/2008 5:47:26 AM PDT by JackOfVA
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To: 3AngelaD
These pinheads don't understand that charging for and reducing parking will hurt the businesses at Tysons I and II. They also fail to understand that the current ratio of parking to needs will change as the population continues to increase in the area.

I am for a metro link to Tysons and IAD, but it should be below ground into Tysons.

6 posted on 07/07/2008 5:54:23 AM PDT by kabar
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To: VeniVidiVici
"Ultimately, Schwartz and other advocates said... drivers should pay a price for choosing to drive or be denied the privilege..."

"Sounds like the chairman of the local People's Council has his panties in a wad."

I think you hit it on the head. This is about control. Schwartz sounds like a neighborhood nazi writ large. Isn't it funny how liberals always seem to be for more and more controls and limitations on the peoples' lives?

7 posted on 07/07/2008 6:01:42 AM PDT by Truth29
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To: JackOfVA; KC_Conspirator

I go to Tyson’s to shop just because the parking is such a pleasure: plentiful, free, safe, clean. Even if the traffic on Route 7 leaves something to be desired (I usually approach from 123, which isn’t all that bad), it is worth it. It would never occur to me to go to downtown DC to shop. I would prefer to have pointy sticks poked in my eyes. Sounds to me like our Overlords at the Taj Mahal want us all to be as miserable as district residents. They, of course, will continue to tool around in their county-provided Navigators and Escalades, with their parking provided free at taxpayer expense, while we schlep around on buses and Metro. Question: do they pay to park at the Taj? Or do they have spaces reserved with their names on them? Three guesses.


8 posted on 07/07/2008 6:02:38 AM PDT by 3AngelaD (They screwed up their own countries so bad they had to leave, and now they're here screwing up ours)
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To: 3AngelaD

People don’t WANT “cities.” They want suburbs. Except for a very few main functions (sports complexes, central government and some banking), EVERYTHING can be “off loaded” to suburbs. I never go to downtown Dayton anymore, and don’t want to.


9 posted on 07/07/2008 6:06:43 AM PDT by LS (CNN is the Amtrak of News)
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To: 3AngelaD
Amazing how pols can continually find ways to screw things up... One of the things that killed downtown Kansas City many years ago was a LACK of parking, especially free parking. For instance, if you get jury duty, the per-diem won't even pay your parking charge, IF you can get into a long term lot. If you can't, be prepared to have your car ticketed or towed, since you can't just run out to put more change in the meter.

Mark

10 posted on 07/07/2008 6:12:12 AM PDT by MarkL (Al Gore: The Greenhouse Gasbag! (heard on Bob Brinker's Money Talk))
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To: 3AngelaD
"Who wants parking spaces to be the hallmark of a development?" said Clark Tyler,

Other than the businesses, the employees, the customers, and anyone using the #1 form of transportation in the United States, I can't think of anyone.

11 posted on 07/07/2008 6:26:59 AM PDT by SampleMan (We are a free and industrious people, socialist nannies do not become us.)
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To: 3AngelaD
Just a question, what is the Taj Majal of Tysons? This Arlington resident has only lived here in the metro 4 years.
12 posted on 07/07/2008 6:43:53 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: 3AngelaD
parking lots coat the ground with impervious asphalt that sends dirty runoff into rivers and streams...

There is an asphalt product that allows water to pass through. It's just not used much.

13 posted on 07/07/2008 6:45:39 AM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: 3AngelaD

This goes well with the article from Sunday that said DC is looking to make people’s commutes so bad that they have to take Metro. They are taking away switchable lanes, removing parking, and talking about shutting down some major arteries (like the 395 tunnel).

They want people to live in DC, not drive there.

I say, let’s move the jobs into the suburbs. That way people are going both directions in the morning and afternoon, some driving in to jobs, some driving out. Doubles the road capacity for commuting, without switchable lanes.

Also, with $4 gas, it allows people to live 10 miles from work instead of 40.


14 posted on 07/07/2008 6:48:24 AM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: KC_Conspirator

fairfax co. gov't center is out near Fair Lakes, fairfax co. parkway and Route 66.

15 posted on 07/07/2008 6:49:11 AM PDT by xsmommy
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To: KC_Conspirator
"Just a question, what is the Taj Majal of Tysons? This Arlington resident has only lived here in the metro 4 years."

I believe the poster is referring to the Fairfax County government center in Fairfax City, not Tysons. The government center's main building is very grand and imposing with may acres of free parking around it.

16 posted on 07/07/2008 6:51:21 AM PDT by Truth29
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To: xsmommy

An impressive place...perfect for worshiping the nanny state!


17 posted on 07/07/2008 6:54:24 AM PDT by rockrr (Global warming is to science what Islam is to religion)
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To: rockrr; Truth29

i am figuring the fairfax co bd of supervisors have thrones in their various offices in keeping with the decor....


18 posted on 07/07/2008 6:56:52 AM PDT by xsmommy
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To: xsmommy

I must be blind. I used to work for Nortel a couple of years ago and went out that way all the time.


19 posted on 07/07/2008 7:01:23 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: KC_Conspirator

it’s not really visible from 66 i don’t think. We used to have to go out there to pay personal property tax on cars before they got rid of that.


20 posted on 07/07/2008 7:04:27 AM PDT by xsmommy
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