Slow Saturday Special: Boston Gives Motorists the Gillooly Treatment

0123456789Globe is the one that actually hit her in the kneecaps.0123456789

"Quest for parking in Boston worse than ever" by Beth Healy | Globe Staff   October 04, 2014

You’re navigating downtown traffic, with minutes to spare to make a meeting. Street parking is hopeless, so you head for a central garage, resigned to paying a small fortune for a cramped patch of pavement.

Then, disaster: A “lot full” sign blocks the entrance, like a callous maitre d’ turning away all but the dining elite. Even worse, other nearby garages are packed too.

Parking in downtown Boston has always been a headache, but the quest for a space during prime time, middays between Tuesday and Thursday, has become tougher than ever. Blame an improving economy and the loss of acres of cheap parking on the waterfront -- garage executives say Boston is experiencing a 0123456789full-blown parking shortage0123456789.

“My staff has seen 0123456789people in tears0123456789. I think they would give their car away,’’ said Pam Messenger, general manager of the Friends of Post Office Square, which owns the popular Garage at Post Office Square. “It’s the 0123456789new normal0123456789.’’

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Jammed parking lots are 0123456789symptoms of a healthy business climate0123456789. They signal that employment is up and tenants are occupying downtown office buildings. But with executives shelling out $475 a month and more to secure daily spots for their BMWs and Lexus SUVs, there are fewer spaces for people in town for meetings, meals or tourism.

Boston’s current parking crunch is the product of conflicting ambitions. City planners placed parking caps on downtown and South Boston years ago, hoping to reduce pollution and encourage the use of public transportation, while mayors and developers pressed for business and residential expansion.

James Gillooly, interim commissioner of the Boston Transportation Department, estimates about 3,000 spaces have been eliminated in the Seaport area over the past several years, as offices, condos and hotels have replaced open lots. Some of the new buildings allow public parking, and other, more expensive lots have surfaced. But the landscape has changed dramatically for hundreds of people who once parked on the waterfront and walked to work downtown.

“As this neighborhood grows,’’ said Gillooly, “there will be spaces that used to be used by people in the financial district, who now have to come up with a new strategy of how to come and go from work.’’
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01234567890123456789Oh, that's why this gets front-page treatment in the Bo$ton Globe.0123456789

Gillooly0123456789 suggested0123456789 a ride on the MBTA, followed by a walk from South Station, or perhaps a short pedal on a Hubway bike. “It’s time for a 0123456789recalibration of their thinking0123456789,” he said.
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01234567890123456789Spoken like a true member of the elite political cla$$. 0123456789
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01234567890123456789Related: 0123456789Major crimes spike on MBTA0123456789 0123456789
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01234567890123456789I've recalibrated my thinking and have decided you should stay out of Boston.0123456789

Bostonians stubbornly love their cars, especially in bad weather.
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01234567890123456789Bad weather? In the age of global warming?0123456789

But they must deal with two hard and fast numbers:
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01234567890123456789Time to get the hell out of the city.0123456789

--more--"

0123456789Also see0123456789:

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01234567890123456789The march was a show of force, the Globe tells me.0123456789
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0123456789As electricity costs rise, market for heat pumps takes off
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01234567890123456789I thought that might be an electrifying way to end this post. 0123456789
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01234567890123456789As for me, I've been shorted out by the lying, agenda-pushing, war-promoting paper, right down to the endless -- and I am sure unthinking -- use of war terminology for every damn issue no matter how innocuous. Talk about internalizing the values of your ma$ters.0123456789