http://dailynewarker.com/blog/2008/01/the-iron-cage-a-very-brief-history-of-parking-in-newark/ Newark 2.0: intelligent conversation, experiments in hyperlocal journalism Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:56:54 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://dailynewarker.com/blog/2008/01/the-iron-cage-a-very-brief-history-of-parking-in-newark/comment-page-1/#comment-576 L. Craig Schoonmaker Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:24:41 +0000 http://dailynewarker.com/2008/01/12/the-iron-cage-a-very-brief-history-of-parking-in-newark/#comment-576 After living in Manhattan for 35 years, I don't see parking in Newark as being as difficult as suggested, except for the most central portion of the business district during certain hours, weekdays. If we want to revive that area as a shopping center, we will indeed have to integrate parking, but I don't see parking lots in peripheral areas as the solution for shoppers, because unless the shuttle buses are like those for airports, with as much room for shopping bags as airport buses provide for suitcases, people are not going to find taking a bus to their car congenial. + If we want to go upscale, we may have to do a Mall of America kind of thing, with a huge parking structure integrated into the project. The current depressed condition of the city, however, may mean that such a megaproject is doable, since there are so many vacant or semi-vacant structures of little architectural or historical value there, that we could just rip a hole in the drearier precincts of Downtown and build a parking structure partly/largely underground, and an enclosed, multilevel mall above it. + Everything depends on what kind of future we visualize for Newark. Older buildings at low rents may serve as incubators for new small businesses, or be transformed (at higher rents, after renovation) into residential lofts and artists' studios. But such things don't have to be Downtown. Arts neighborhoods can be close in but not central, as SoHo and Tribeca are to Midtown and Downtown Manhattan. + If we want Downtown to become a destination, a place for people to hang around before and after Arena events or go clubbing, only a modest increase in central parking is needed, since most such recreation will be after office buildings and daytime businesses close. What we should NOT do is gut existing multifunction buildings for single-purpose parking structures. But if we can building underground parking structures or garages on the first few floors of the backstreet side of major new office or apartment buildings, with something towering over them, that could work very well. After living in Manhattan for 35 years, I don’t see parking in Newark as being as difficult as suggested, except for the most central portion of the business district during certain hours, weekdays. If we want to revive that area as a shopping center, we will indeed have to integrate parking, but I don’t see parking lots in peripheral areas as the solution for shoppers, because unless the shuttle buses are like those for airports, with as much room for shopping bags as airport buses provide for suitcases, people are not going to find taking a bus to their car congenial.
+
If we want to go upscale, we may have to do a Mall of America kind of thing, with a huge parking structure integrated into the project. The current depressed condition of the city, however, may mean that such a megaproject is doable, since there are so many vacant or semi-vacant structures of little architectural or historical value there, that we could just rip a hole in the drearier precincts of Downtown and build a parking structure partly/largely underground, and an enclosed, multilevel mall above it.
+
Everything depends on what kind of future we visualize for Newark. Older buildings at low rents may serve as incubators for new small businesses, or be transformed (at higher rents, after renovation) into residential lofts and artists’ studios. But such things don’t have to be Downtown. Arts neighborhoods can be close in but not central, as SoHo and Tribeca are to Midtown and Downtown Manhattan.
+
If we want Downtown to become a destination, a place for people to hang around before and after Arena events or go clubbing, only a modest increase in central parking is needed, since most such recreation will be after office buildings and daytime businesses close. What we should NOT do is gut existing multifunction buildings for single-purpose parking structures. But if we can building underground parking structures or garages on the first few floors of the backstreet side of major new office or apartment buildings, with something towering over them, that could work very well.

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