{"id":46,"date":"2009-07-02T00:36:42","date_gmt":"2009-07-02T05:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cityblock.wordpress.com\/?p=46"},"modified":"2011-02-20T16:26:11","modified_gmt":"2011-02-20T21:26:11","slug":"cake-loves-parking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alexblock.net\/blog\/2009\/07\/02\/cake-loves-parking\/","title":{"rendered":"Cake Loves Parking"},"content":{"rendered":"

GGW’s links thread<\/a> brought my attention to U Street high-end cupcake retailer CakeLove’s foray into the world of urban planning.\u00a0 CakeLove founder Warren Brown originally wrote about the issue in a blog post back in 2006<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Tear down the Reeves Center, please. Give the Mid-City Business District community what it wants and needs: PARKING.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Not having enough parking interferes with my business. Parking is the major restraint on the growth of my business. Everyday people from Virginia, Maryland, and DC don\u2019t come to CakeLove or Love Caf\u00e9 because they\u2019re certain there parking won\u2019t be available. Most of the parking around CakeLove and Love Caf\u00e9 is off-street and it fills up fairly quickly. The solution is to eliminate the perception that there is inadequate parking. Only then will people change their attitude that access to retail, nightlife, dining and services in this neighborhood is real.<\/p>\n

How do we get there? Build a parking garage. Tear down the Reeves center at 14th & U St. NW and build a new anchor \u2013 a municipal parking structure that\u2019ll hold 1,500 cars. Give this community what it wants and needs: PARKING. The Reeves center fulfilled its mission as an anchor for re-development on the U Street corridor. It signaled the direction for change and now we\u2019ve turned a new corner. Development is fully on track and the needs for that space and the community are different. What the current and future businesses and residents need more than a partially occupied municipal center with closed and redundant storefronts is a lot of parking spaces. The Reeves center is obsolete.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Granted, this is an old thought, but thanks to the magic of the internet tubes, it’s suddenly back in the forefront.\u00a0 CakeLove’s driving directions encourage folks to double park<\/a> when visiting.\u00a0 Warren had a new post<\/a> on the issue recently:<\/p>\n

Hey – thanks for the comments in about parking – although people are arguing for less parking and less drivers. But I don\u2019t think that the Metro system is one of the best in the world. It closes early, it\u2019s slow, it\u2019s not the safest in the world, and it doesn\u2019t get you everywhere. I have to go to National Harbor today. Metro doesn\u2019t go there and if I did a combo of walk, train, and bus, it\u2019ll take three to four times as long in one direction. And hardly anyone takes metro there anyway.
\nI understand the argument for less drivers, it would be great to have less pollution from drivers, but driving is a fact of life of course and putting the cars someplace is something urban planners have to contend with if they want to support local business. No storefront that I know of in any community can survive without driving customers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I appreciate Warren’s enthusiasm, but like many small business owners, I’m afraid his policy recommendations are misplaced.\u00a0 Let’s amalgamate them and go one by one:<\/p>\n