Parking has been the holy grail for lots of towns—more parkers, more business, more taxes. Our farmers market lot has been a target for many years, and the library bond money and the need for more housing and the expense to developers to provide their own parking all saw the lot as low-hanging fruit. With my adjacent business, I get no complaints about parking from customers or employees. I park in a structure a five-minute walk from the proposed structure, and it is never full at the bargain rate of five bucks a day.
Then there is the question of priorities. We do need a treatment center and public housing for our fellow human beings living in tents and vehicles with no facilities—not something we want in the middle of town. Are we really going to tear down the old library, described as a 100-year building by a prominent local architect? Are we not going to have to tear out all that asbestos anyway? Do we not need an event center? And how about some events?
And the question of urban architecture … let’s imagine the cities of Healdsburg or Paso Robles putting a parking structure in the middle of their plazas.
At least we finally got rid of the River Street sign. I fear that it is in storage. Vote yes on O.
Paul Cocking
Santa Cruz
This is laughable. Paul Cocking continues to write in non-facts to the Good Times. I thought the Good Times’ policy was not to publish anything they know to be incorrect. The current downtown library was built in 1968 in a “Brutalist”, all concrete style. The city will be losing most of its surface parking lots. Along with planned and currently being built dense housing in downtown, a three story parking garage is barely replacing parking being lost. You can thank state mandates to increase our affordable housing supply. If Measure O passes, this will put a halt to current projects and then the state will mandate anyway with NO local/city government input for even “objective standards.”
If you think the existing downtown library is ‘brutalist’, you should hit the architecture books. It is, in fact, an elegant and open-plan, mid-century modern design that is airy, humane and spacious It was also built within five years of the Sentinel building, which is similar in style and which won numerous awards for its 2011 ‘green’ conversion. ‘Brutalist’ , however, does accurately describe both the proposed Franken-library and the methods being used to force it down our throats.
Thank you Paul! Yes on O!