Tulsa enters elite 8 for most surface parking

[BKDotCom]

"The contest rates city downtown areas with (...) the largest number of ugly surface parking lots."

http://www.newson6.com/story/21891299/tulsa-enters-elite-eight-in-parking-madness-contest

Voting is still open

[sgrizzle]

Tulsa is winning by a landslide this round. Comments on the voting page are great.

Would love Cleveland to "win" to make a point to our leadership... But damn, Tulsa.

If they were taking bets in Vegas, my money would be on Tulsa to win the whole thing.

[davideinstein]

Tulsa is winning by a landslide this round. Comments on the voting page are great.

Would love Cleveland to "win" to make a point to our leadership... But damn, Tulsa.

If they were taking bets in Vegas, my money would be on Tulsa to win the whole thing.

[SXSW]

I doubt it's the worst in the country, but it's up there.  That area used to be full of the same type of buildings that make up the Brady District before TCC and the churches decimated it.  The only way I see it coming back is if TCC expands, which at the rate they are building up their campus would be in 50+ years.  I wish somehow OSU and TCC could combine campuses and focus all new growth in this area of downtown, including large amounts of student housing, and turn the existing Greenwood campus into a research park for the entire OSU system.  A dynamic catalyst like that is what is needed for this part of the city.

[BKDotCom]

Tulsa is now in the Final Four and will face Dallas Houston...   not sure when voting opens.

Edit:  Dallas/Houston, what's the difference

[patric]

I doubt it's the worst in the country, but it's up there.  That area used to be full of the same type of buildings that make up the Brady District before TCC and the churches decimated it.

I was walking to class, literally around the corner of TJC when the restaurant on the opposite corner blew up.  It was absolutely surreal.

Ill bet they were wishing the same thing would happen to Horace Mann school, which was eventually turned into a prison pre-release house.

[wylie]

We're currently outpacing Milwaukee 3 to 1.

TULSA ADVANCES TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FOR WORST PARKING CRATER
Tulsa won its Final Four contest against Houston and is moving on to the championship – but not in college hoops. Tulsa is the favorite to win the Parking Madness tournament, a single-elimination bracket put together by Streetsblog, a news site that covers transportation and urban planning issues. In the tournament, readers determined the winner of each match-up by voting on which city has the worst downtown "parking crater" – an area consumed by surface parking.

Streetsblog's contest for the Worst Parking Crater in a U.S. downtown draws attention to the deadening effect of devoting too much city land to automobile storage. Surface parking lots devour valuable parcels, spreading destinations farther apart and discouraging walking. By replacing the activities that enliven a city – a mix of retail, residences, office space, and parks – too much parking turns urban real estate into an asphalt wasteland that's unsafe at night and contributes little to the city's tax base.

Tulsa has the bones of a vibrant, walkable downtown – a well-connected street grid with short blocks. The right policies and incentives could spur redevelopment. Recently, the city council passed a six-month moratorium on new surface parking in July and extended it 90 days in February. It expires at the end of this month unless the city acts.

Tulsa beat Houston in the Final Four round of Parking Madness by a vote of 175 to 121. The championship round began moments ago, with voting open until Thursday at noon, and the winner announced later on Thursday. Watch http://dc.streetsblog.org for the championship voting.

[BKDotCom]

Wow, it almost seems the KJRH segment was getting it completely wrong.

http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/tulsa-faces-houston-this-week-in-final-four-for-worst-parking

Tulsa faces Houston this week in 'Final Four' for worst parking
There are only four parking spots for an entire row of shops in front of Glacier Confection in downtown Tulsa's Brady Arts District.

"It's been a little difficult to park," said Glacier Confection owner Bill Copeland.

Copeland says he'd love to see more parking because naturally that means more customers.

but they seem to turn it around..

As for Bill, his parking pitch is to build a few garages on the outskirts of the Brady, Blue Dome, and other popular areas of downtown, that anchor cars in a few spots.

"Hopefully we don't win that category," he said.

[TheArtist]

Yea watched that with a friend and he wasn't sure what the point was.  "They saying there is not enough parking?" 

What frustrates me is that people say that at all.  May sound better that he thinks they need a parking garage "on the outskirts of the district".  But aren't there already gobs of parking garages that sit mostly empty much of the time,,, on the outskirts of the district? Why would people be more apt to use new parking garages when they already don't use the ones we have?

1. Keep building good, pedestrian friendly developments.
2. Better utilize (advertise, promote) the already available parking.
3. Better utilize (advertise and promote) the available transit options (from the new "trolley" to even the pedicabs).

Wonder about setting up free bike stations, or bike rental stations like they tried at river parks and TU but at the available parking garages? Just a thought.

[sgrizzle]

Tulsa is winning the final

[JoeMommaBlake]

...And will win. Deservedly.

Here's a letter I wrote to my colleagues last week, when Tulsa was just in the "Elite 8".

http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/04/04/elite-eight-parking-madness-tulsa-vs-cleveland/

Naturally, many of you have likely grown tired of my incessant drum-banging for a more walkable downtown. I'm certainly sorry if it bothers you. I only send things like this around so that you can observe that I'm not alone in my beliefs. There is a growing group of citizens, both locally and around the world, who understand that the short-sighted over-accommodation of the automobile in urban areas is detrimental to their long-term viability. I can always make the case that our city's very low density numbers across town can only sustainably stay that way if they are offset by areas of density elsewhere. What better place than downtown, right? While you may feel that I disproportionately advocate for our city's urban core, I'd like to remind you that tens of thousands of people work and play downtown every day. Those are not all District 4 constituents. I promise. A healthy and vibrant downtown serves the entire community. I'd ask that you join me in making that case to your constituents. Competing cities in our region and across the U.S. have figured it out that downtown revitalization is the most critical component of their city's economic future. Consequently, their entire bodies of elected people support its resurgence, even if it doesn't touch their ward or district. I believe it's vital that Tulsa follow suit. I'm asking again that you join me in supporting downtown efforts collectively, rather than see it as my personal issue.

I sincerely hope that we can look into the future and recognize that future generations of Tulsans will demand dense areas of walkability and urban life. You might not understand why they want it, but please recognize that they do. You don't have to need it or want it to make it valuable. It requires minimal investment from us, just a reverse of an old pattern (and maybe a parking garage or two). Our community has done a terrific job of accommodating a certain lifestyle, but it has come at the expense of diversity and well-roundedness. Our young people are not like the generations before them. They will move to a city they like first and then look for a job. They won't let where they grew up or their employer decide for them where they call home. Environment is too important to them to compromise. We have to work to create this environment in Tulsa. And just so it's clear, they want a place that ignites their spirit and inspires their minds, they don't want a sea of surface parking.

As we seek to build our city, let's make sure we're not on lists like this anymore.


Blake

[carltonplace]

Blake, thank you for your continued advocacy of our beautiful and historic downtown. You should not feel the need to be apologetic for banging the drum.

Some very simple things that we can do to reverse the trend and get off of this list:

1. Dissuade tear downs by making the demolition process more difficult
2. Implement a set of surface parking tenets that makes creating them less attractive
3. Substantially add to the revolving downtown housing fund and increase its scope/area (3rd penny decision is coming up)
4. Promote downtown development by simplifying the permitting process and by applying smart urban zoning rules
5. Sell the properties in the TDA portfolio for development.
6. Increase circulator frequency and provide additional alternate transit options

[TheArtist]

Well said Blake.

Going to shift the topic ever so slightly, but the comments are still pertinent to the discussion at hand.

Sitting here right now its a cold rainy morning. Its 41, thundering, and the rain is coming down pretty hard.  Used to be, when it was expected that a lot of people were going to be walking around downtown, perhaps after they got off a trolley, or were in town to do some shopping which meant walking around quite a bit, businesses as a courtesy and as good business practice, made sure they took things like rainy or sunny hot weather into consideration.  Look at an old photo of downtown and there were awnings everywhere, all along the side of the building and over the sidewalks. Today when a new building is built you might see a small one only over the doorway, no protection along the rest of the street.  Here specifically thinking about the new Cimarex and insurance buildings.  But of course there is a parking garage in the main building.  Which begs the observation that it appears from this example, and there are others, that we still focus on auto centric culture in our downtown and thus, because of that, forget the pedestrian.  Even with some of the buildings we are proud of, like the new Tribune Lofts and the new Hotel in the Brady District with their retail on the ground floor...those buildings also do not adequately take the pedestrian into account.  The new AHHA building and Matthews Warehouse refurbishment, which are important pedestrian connections from the Brady Arts to Greenwood areas, are also severely lacking on the "pedestrian friendliness" front as well.  People will complain about parking and having to walk in this area, not just because there is not a parking garage with every building or every block, but because people seem to have forgotten how to build pedestrian friendly streets and buildings.  I know some of the people involved with some of these buildings and they are friends who really want the area to work and revitalize.  Their comments often fall along the order of the person who owns the shop in that news video,,, of needing more parking garages.  Their focus is on parking garages, and it seems they then forget about the street, the sidewalk, itself.  Or, is it because the other option might be available... they are not then forced to think of others?

 I was in a small town in another state a while back, don't remember the name right off, but went walking around it's small, revitalizing, downtown.  It was full of trendy new shops and cafe's, along with old stalwarts like an old hardware store, barber shops, small theater, etc. and the obligatory collection of antique shops.  But what struck me was noticing that many stores had a covered "inset" area where the front door was.  Many more stores had awnings along the front of the store over the sidewalk, and several stores had connections inside from one store to the next, some had second floor balconies that made loggias along the street level, etc.  One reason perhaps that I noticed this was because it was raining that day as well. Yet, I still enjoyed being out and walking around their downtown.  

 I honestly don't know how we can answer this part of the equation in our downtown as it continues to revitalize.  But I do think it is important. Not every building has to be perfect in this respect.  But it doesn't seem that many, if any, are taking this into consideration. Is part of it because so many are focused on "parking solutions" either more surface parking or parking garages?  If we were not considering those options would peoples, businesses and developers, attention then turn to "What can I do to make peoples walks more comfortable?"  Or could we perhaps add incentives to businesses who build new, or want to upgrade existing buildings, to add awnings and such (or use existing ones like the Philcade has) as some other cities have done to enhance their pedestrian friendly streets?  

Shifting back on topic now... Better, pedestrian friendly streets imo would actually help with the "parking crater" problem. We have a whole set of situations which are still pushing us in one, adverse direction.  I don't think that we will find a solution by not doing something, and I believe that something must not be an isolated "one thing" like parking garages, but must take on a more holistic approach.  They sure took a holistic approach when they zoned for suburban, car oriented growth in this town.  I think it's waaaay past time we did the same for urban/pedestrian/transit friendly growth.  

[Ibanez]

Tulsa is winning the final

It is our birthright!!!!

[Townsend]

Tulsa is crushing it.  80%