UncleFedora t1_iwa3we3 wrote
I got blasted for saying it before, but eating up parking spaces with bumped out sidewalks has people going elsewhere. One of the restaurants even blamed parking in an article. 🤦♂️
SmartSherbet t1_iwc2aqq wrote
It's not the city's job to provide parking for restaurant patrons. It *is* the city's job to provide safe spaces for people to walk.
UncleFedora t1_iwe4k9v wrote
How about that Grafton street rotary? GIANT sidewalks, and a traffic nightmare, but hey, plenty of space for pedestrians.
UniqueCartel t1_iwgzw2x wrote
That area has always been jammed with traffic. The rotary makes the traffic patterns more predictable and clear which makes it safer. Larger spaces for pedestrians makes pedestrians more visible to traffic.
Karen1968a t1_iwlsu08 wrote
It was never ever this bad. It’s literally 15 minutes from cvs to 290 almost every afternoon. Now, is it safer for pedestrians, I don’t know, it might well be, but it does seem to me that all of those cars trucks and buses stuck in traffic are going to increase pollution. Heywood street into Kelly square is the same, traffic nightmare, but that was the goal, slow everything down for pedestrians.
Karen1968a t1_iwewgzj wrote
A traffic nightmare, and they are going to do the exact same thing with the Chandler street reconfiguration.
AceOfTheSwords t1_iwc10er wrote
When you reach a certain density of businesses on a given street, the street parking is less useful. Increasingly you can only rely on the space immediately in front of your business. And the 2-4 parking spaces in front of a restaurant aren't going to come anywhere near filling the place.
What would honestly help the businesses in that area a lot would be a frequent (say, every 15 min) shuttle that ran a small route from Kelley Square, up Water St, across Franklin St, stopping at the bus hub, and going down Green St back to Kelley Square. And have it run LATE. At least until midnight. Could stop waiting at the hub after the last commuter train leaves, since other buses all stop running before that.
TheTokingMushroom t1_iwbevy8 wrote
Union Station Parking Garage is literally right there. It was easy to park there on a Friday night.
sunshinepills t1_iwc3om7 wrote
I agree, but Worcester is culturally not a park and walk city.
your_city_councilor t1_iwcawi0 wrote
It has to become that, though, if it wants to have more than just a few restaurants. In the meanwhile, the restaurants could provide valet service, as the Shrewsbury Street places do.
moisheah t1_iwccq3l wrote
Valet Service 👍didn’t even think of that. (I don’t drive so not on my radar)
sunshinepills t1_iwd03y2 wrote
I definitely agree with you, and FWIW I disagree with the notion of "if I am going somewhere I must be able to park RIGHT out front or I will no longer go", especially in a city like Worcester where there are SO many low-cost parking options less than a quarter mile from....anywhere really.
moisheah t1_iwccfke wrote
Worcester needs to adapt. Not having any parking available at all is one thing. Not having parking right outside the establishment door because people don’t want to walk for three-five-ten minutes is something else.
A shuttle would be nice, but not necessary imo. Afaik the wrta can’t keep up with the regular routes due to driver shortages so I can’t see them adding any additional rn.
Eta- there are at maybe 2-3? Free busses that run the complete length of green street now. I’m guessing at least 1-2 of those also run down the other street on the opposite side of the peanut. No idea how late though.
SmartSherbet t1_iwcbkhj wrote
That's gonna have to change if we want businesses to succeed in areas where rent is high and space is tight. It is neither practical nor in any way desirable for every business to provide free parking immediately adjacent to its front door for all of its customers.
Just think about restaurants - they have tons of patrons on Friday and Saturday at 7pm, fewer at other times, and zero much of the time. Meaning that for all of their weekend customers to be able to park right there, really valuable land has to be set aside for parking and go completely unused the rest of the time. That drives the cost of owning a restaurant way up - because you have to own the parking lot, too, which brings you no revenue and spends most of its time sitting empty.
Here's a video illustrating the problem.
sunshinepills t1_iwd0df2 wrote
I said this in another thread reply, but FWIW I disagree with the notion of "if I am going somewhere I must be able to park RIGHT out front or I will no longer go", especially in a city like Worcester where there are SO many low-cost parking options less than a quarter mile from....anywhere really. Even for folks who don't drive or choose not to, I know the WRTA sucks but Uber/Lyft are also insanely reasonable in Worcester.
ctsketch t1_iwdeabw wrote
And i've never seen that garage at capacity
stargazer4272 t1_iwbrqw2 wrote
I've seen no good thing about eating in the street. I avoid places that have forced out door tables like in street or parking lots.
ctsketch t1_iwde8s3 wrote
Sidewalks were shit or non existant in the area before. I see a lot more people walking around and shopping on the weekends now
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