[RP TownTalk] parking at EYA

[Chris Currie]

That parking lot fills up on most evenings now.  Hyattsville city officials
foresaw the need for more parking back in the development review process for
Arts District Hyattsville, and former Mayor Gardiner spent quite a bit of
time and effort trying to secure partnerships and funding for a parking
garage on the east side.

However, it's never easy to afford structured parking, and when the
recession hit, I think that killed any serious continuing effort on that
project.  Whether a site still exists in EYA's master plan or whether it's
been re-programmed, I don't know.  In any case, given the permanent
financial crisis at every level of government and the near-impossibility of
building a parking garage on that site entirely with private funding, I
think it's a pipe dream at this point.

I've been curious to see where overflow parking will go -- whether patrons
of the Shoppes will head south to the municipal lot at Franklins (which also
often fills up) or whether they'll start cruising the residential
neighborhoods west of Rte. 1.  I do see a lot of people walking down
Jefferson St. on weekend evenings, but I can't tell if all of those are
local residents walking to the Shoppes or if there are car commuters among
them.

Probably another issue that Riverdale Park and University Park residents
should be thinking about now with respect to the Cafritz development,
because given the developers' demonstrated focus on maximizing density on
the site, it's a pretty sure bet that they'll put in as little parking as
they can get away with.  On that issue, though, I'm sure Whole Foods will be
a powerful negotiator -- and undoubtedly they'll want acres of parking.

Chris Currie
Hyattsville


Message: 3
Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 07:26:54 -0400
From: Dwight Holmes <dwightrholmes at gmail.com>
To: Sarah Wayland <sarah.wayland at gmail.com>
Cc: TownTalk <towntalk at riverdale-park.org>
Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] parking at EYA
Message-ID:
       <CAGPjrU82Ttg0XnA=Bpq4EL0w0QYH-MvJdCDXO_0w=6eOWnL=fw at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

FWIW, last night may have been an extraordinary occasion, with Dr
Cornell West and others appearing for the Howard Zinn Room formal
dedication event at BB&P.

On Thu, Sep 22, 2011 at 7:15 AM, Sarah Wayland <sarah.wayland at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Last night I tried to make a quick run to the Yes! Organic Market to
> get a few things, and was unable to find parking. Eventually I gave up
> and drove to MOM in College Park.
>
> Does anyone know if there are plans for more parking?
>
> -Sarah
>
>
> --
> Sarah Wayland
> sarah.wayland at gmail.com
> _______________________________________________
> TownTalk mailing list
> To post to the list, send mail to TownTalk at riverdale-park.org
> TownTalk-request at riverdale-park.org is for automated subscription
processing only
> http://riverdale-park.org/mailman/listinfo/towntalk
>
> For more information about Riverdale Park, visit
http://www.riverdaleparkmd.info
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/attachments/20110922/3add5d34/attachment.html>