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When will the repairs to the Buchanan Street parking lot in Lafayette be completed? | News

by Deena S. Hawkins on

The first phase of repairs to the downtown Lafayette Buchanan Street parking lot is expected to be completed in January.

The six-story structure built in 1981 was abruptly closed in October 2018 after it was deemed unsafe, exacerbating parking problems for patrons of the nearby Lafayette Parish Courthouse as there is plenty of street parking. near the courthouse were then reserved for courthouse employees who used the garage.

It is not known when the parking garage will reopen.

Buchanan Street parking garage repairs begin Tuesday

The plans for Phase 2 are expected to be delivered in January, unless unforeseen circumstances arise, according to city engineer Fred Trahan.

Phase 1 involves structural repairs to the parking garage, as well as sanding and painting the exterior of the structure and installing an impact resistant cable system.

Downtown EDD Board of Directors Approves Economic Development Fund Application Process

Corrosion damaged more than half of the steel beams and columns that support the floors of the 344-vehicle parking garage.

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Mayor-President Josh Guillory signed an emergency declaration in March 2020 after an engineer report revealed advanced to severe corrosion in the latches that connect some of the 200 panels to the garage itself. The panels were removed to lighten the load on the structure.

Phase 1 is expected to cost just over $ 1.6 million.

A downtown Lafayette performing arts center? DDA wants to get there, has the site in mind

Phase 2, Trahan said in an email response to the questions, is expected to include repairs or replacement of elevators, as well as repairs to stairwells and the electrical system, at an estimated cost of $ 1.6 million. of dollars. The second phase can also include interior painting for an estimated cost of $ 500,000 to $ 800.00.

If interior painting is not allowed, he said, the final design of the elevator and stairwell work could allow part of the parking garage to be used during construction. This decision will be made once the final elevator and stairwell designs are completed.

Lafayette could house a new Louisiana music museum

The parking lot was closed in 2018 shortly after the parish’s former city council rejected a proposal from then-mayor Joel Robideaux that the city buy the structure from the parish. Some council members saw this decision as a way to help the budget of the struggling parish.

Robideaux then issued a request for proposals to redevelop the parking garage and other nearby properties – some not owned by LCG – into a mixed-use development with residences and businesses. It received four proposals in 2019, but took no action after determining that none of the proposals were financially viable.

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Parking garage

Columbus Council votes in Astor Park parking lot near Crew Stadium

by Deena S. Hawkins on

Columbus City Council is due to vote Monday to pay $ 21.82 million for the construction phase of a new parking lot in the new mixed-use Astor Park development adjacent to Columbus Crew’s new Lower.com field.

The council has already approved at least $ 1.4 million for the design of the city-owned garage by Columbus-based architecture firm Moody Nolan, bringing the total cost to at least $ 23.22 million.

The city had estimated the cost at $ 25 million, but that was based on a garage that could hold up to 750 cars. The final design of the five-story garage provides for 677 spaces to “serve residents, workers and visitors to the Astor Park area,” formerly known as Confluence Village until the team changed the name. in honor of the Astor House Hotel in New York City, where the United States Football Association (now known as the US Soccer Federation) was founded in 1913.

The garage will have a “perforated metal exterior” and vertical glass shaft with two elevators in the southeast corner, according to the ordinance.

The design will include two vehicle entrances with a total of five entry and exit lanes, located at the northeast and southwest corners of the structure, approximately 60 feet from the new stadium in the Arena district. There will be central ramps to access the parking lots, according to the ordinance that will be voted on Monday.

The garage’s utilities will include electric vehicle charging stations, a first-floor “bike center” accessible from an alleyway, and a groundwater reservoir. The garage will also include “openings for direct connection to adjacent residential buildings, built under a separate contract,” the ordinance said.

Why Columbus taxpayers pay for parking

The parking lot was part of what ultimately turned into a dramatic increase in costs to city taxpayers under an agreement between Mayor Andrew J. Ginther of Franklin County, the State and the crew to prevent the Major League Soccer team to leave town for Austin, Texas in late 2018.

While Ginther and other city officials initially said the city’s contribution to the deal was capped at $ 50 million, The Dispatch reported in 2019 that city officials were operating under two sets of books. separate: the public commitment of $ 50 million which included new streets and infrastructure and three cash contributions totaling $ 38 million and another unpublished budget filled with additional projects requested by the team and unforeseen cost overruns.

Following those reports, Ginther announced at a stadium dedication ceremony in 2019 that the city had in fact contributed an additional $ 63.9 million, bringing the total costs to the city’s taxpayers to just a bit. less than $ 114 million. But Ginther said the supplement was for projects not directly related to the stadium, calling it “additional funds for the infrastructure of this incredible new employment center.”

“I didn’t major in math, but the last time I checked, $ 113 million in infrastructure for a new job center leveraging $ 1.04 billion in private investment is a pretty good deal. return for central Ohio taxpayers, ”Ginther said at the event.

However, there were also contractual obligations of the stadium agreement, including the required municipal parking garage.

Meanwhile, the city is still in talks with the state to gain the necessary control of certain Ohio State Fairground parking lots near Historic Crew Stadium for a community sports park that , according to city officials, would be the public interest component of the present, nearly 3-year-old stadium deal.

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Uncategorized

Public security concerning the City’s car parks

by Deena S. Hawkins on

Public car parks and surveillance cameras in the city center have been out of use for almost two years. City council unanimously approved $ 1.4 million for a new camera system at the October 5 meeting. The police department hopes the cameras will be installed before the end of the year. In the meantime, according to police, further steps are being taken to protect the area.

SoCo parking at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

During the council discussion, Mayor Whitaker said that neither he nor the other council members had ever received an email regarding a camera failure and that if he or his fellow council members had received such a notice , they would have made it a priority.

However, a city public documents request (R000627-091721) requesting emails regarding the cameras showed only one dated February 2020 from Chief of Police Dunn to all council members, City Manager Domer, Antonia Castro-Graham and Ellis Chang, explaining that the cameras had to be put back, replaced. There were no emails responding to Chief Dunn’s email.

Dunn is currently both Chief of Police and IT Manager.

Retirement Observer Editor-in-chief Sharon Kennedy also sent an email on Aug. 25 alerting every member of city council to the lack of surveillance cameras and the serious security concern for any citizen using public parking. Only council member Zahra responded and, in an August 31 email, said it was a priority and was forwarding the email to Chief Dunn for an update.

Fullerton Police Chief Dunn was invited by City Council at the October 5 council meeting to brief the public on the ongoing investigation into JP23, which resident Samantha Velasquez said she believed being drugged and after leaving the bar she was raped and left in the SoCo parking lot. .

“There have been several people who have made similar allegations to those of the original victim [Samantha Velasquez]Said Chief Dunn. “These investigations take months. We want to get all the evidence. The observer was later said by the Fullerton Police Department sergeant. McCaskill that the exact number of victims reported in this case could not be disclosed due to HIPAA regulations.

“Running in harmony with [the assault, drugging, and rape investigations] is the administrative process which is our entertainment license recourse process over which I have control in my office, ”said Chief Dunn. “This process is ongoing. We work through these [steps] now and I think the public will have a little more clarity on the department’s efforts in the criminal vein and the Fullerton Municipal Code (FMC) vein, which governs the entertainment licensing process.

Asked after the first police department remedy hearing for JP23, owner Jacob Poozhikala said one of the first remedies was removing the drink from the fishbowl, which Police Chief Dunn said is easily drugged. Since then, Poozhikala has also removed the tinted glass that limited visibility and installed a small sign in the women’s toilet that tells women how to protect themselves while drinking.

“These problems [over-intoxication and fights] aren’t JP23 issues, they’re all bar issues, ”Poozhikala said.

Observer volunteers visited the downtown nightlife scene and found several apparent Conditional Use Permit (UPC) violations (for which JP23 had previously been cited) occurring at other bars, including charges of customer coverage at Matador and Ziing. Matador had over 100 people lined up at Amerige’s corner, and Revolucion served drinks in fish jars (large enough to intoxicate five people).

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Parking garage

Does Klyde Warren Park Really Need Parking?

by Deena S. Hawkins on

Update: While previous reports referred to part of the new structure planned for the Klyde Warren Park expansion as a “parking garage,” a spokesperson for the park said there would be far fewer parking spaces than what is expected. was originally reported. And VisitDallas said this week that it currently has no plans to rent the new building, a change from announcing the extension for the first time. You can read more here.

For the July issue of D Magazine, on newsstands now, I’ve written about the park building boom that downtown Dallas has experienced over the past decade. There is Main Street Garden, Civic Garden (formerly Belo Garden), Pacific Plaza, and West End Square. Carpenter Park and Harwood Park are on their way. There’s of course Klyde Warren Park, the 5.2-acre bridge park built on Woodall Rodgers and opened in 2012.

Generally people love parks and people really love Klyde Warren Park. Kids love fountains and playgrounds, adults love food trucks and public spaces and yoga classes. Pedestrians downtown appreciate the way it connects, over a freeway, the Arts District and Uptown. The city and the developers love the way this increases the value of neighboring properties. Thursday afternoon, I left the office and headed out to the park to sit at a shaded table, eat a cookie, and watch the world go by. It was the best 30 minutes of my week.

So why isn’t everyone liking Klyde Warren’s upcoming 1.7 acre expansion, which again made headlines this week after Dallas City Council approved the finances from him? of the market ? (Much of the money for the $ 100 million expansion comes from TxDOT, private donors, and maybe federal grants.) More park can’t be a bad thing, can it. ?

Note the relative success of each of the newer downtown parks individually, and you’ll find a few nits to choose from. But overall, the construction of parks is a potential boon for the city center because it gives the city center something it badly needs: greenery, pedestrian public spaces and a break from the monotony of the city. car traffic on one-way streets. Many of these parks have literally supplanted parking lots, as clear a symbol as one might ask of Dallas shifting away from the self-centered mindset that has often kept downtown from being what it should be. They are shared and open spaces where everyone is welcome.

Maybe that’s why Klyde Warren Park’s expansion makes it look like Dallas could ruin the good thing we have. Expansion plans highlight a parking lot and a new building that will house, among other things, a center for VisitDallas, the city’s recently besieged visitors’ office. (Update, 1:30 p.m.: While previous reports on this have characterized the structure as a “parking garage,” a spokesperson for Klyde Warren Park said the new extension building will only include about 15 parking spaces exclusively. for people working in the structure. Read more here.)

That’s a lot of enclosed space, although plans call for new green space in the form of Jacobs Lawn. The expansion would expand the children’s park while adding an ice rink that would be used in the winter. Better road links to the Perot Museum are also part of the deal. (All of this would complement the equally controversial “super fountain” that’s in the park’s future.)

Still parking? Visiting Dallas?

“Klyde Warren Park has shown that Dallas residents want more places to meet and an urban core that improves walkability,” the Dallas Morning News’ Mark Lamster wrote in 2018. “But this new expansion offers the opposite: it’s a garage with private event space, and public amenities are an afterthought. Specifically, there is almost no park in this park – the additional space that there would be is cut off from the rest of the park by the new structure.

Boosters said the parking garage is needed and the rental of the enclosed lodge included in the new construction will help fund park operations. The park is owned by the city, but is managed by a private foundation which pays for its maintenance. Renderings make expansion a great place for your company’s next corporate retreat. But does Dallas need its parks?

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Parking spaces

Gold Line park-n-riders get 145 parking spots in downtown Azusa garage – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

by Deena S. Hawkins on

AZUSA >> Gold Line users frustrated by a severe lack of parking at the downtown tram station now have access to 145 additional spaces, the result of a one-year municipal agreement in effect on July 1.

The city temporarily ceded 145 spaces in a multi-story parking lot east of Azusa Avenue and north of the station to train passengers in exchange for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) paying $ 31,000 to the city for operation and maintenance.

“We heard from the public and we did something to help improve conditions there,” said Dave Sotero, a spokesperson for Metro.

However, additional places are not free. Newly acquired spots from Metro cost $ 39 per month. Parking permits are available online at metro.thepermitstore.com and go fast, said Frank Ching, director of parking management at Metro.

Metro had sold 73 permits as of Tuesday, Ching said. Metro can sell approximately 100 additional parking permits for the multi-storey garage, known as the Azusa Intermodal Transit Center.

In the 545-space parking structure completed in February, Metro and Foothill Transit each received 200 spaces, while the City of Azusa received 145. The garage was built by the City, Metro and Foothill Transit, the bus agency. City spaces have 3 hour time limits; Foothill Transit spots require permits but no charge. Metro spaces on the fifth and sixth floors are split between permit only and unrestricted.

Metro Gold Line parking lots fill the allotted spaces every weekday between 6 and 7 a.m., while many are forced to find parking elsewhere. The problem began shortly after the opening on March 5 of the 11.5-mile Foothill Gold Line extension between eastern Pasadena and Azusa Pacific University / Citrus College. To stem an overflow on local streets, the city has enacted parking limits near the downtown train station. Now commuters park further away in unrestricted areas and walk several blocks to and from the station, said Troy Butzlaff, Azusa city manager.

The extra spaces are a temporary fix, said Butzlaff, who helped negotiate the deal with Metro. It was unanimously approved by Azusa City Council on June 27.

The city will want to reclaim these spaces when a new mixed-use development adjacent to the station is completed in around 18 to 24 months, he said.

“This will help reduce some of the problem until a more permanent solution is determined,” Butzlaff said. “It won’t eliminate him. There will still be other people who want to use the Gold Line and cannot find parking. “

Metro and Azusa are also looking for offsite parking to resolve the issue. Butzlaff said the city has land that can accommodate around 70 cars. The owner of the Citrus Crossing Mall on North Citrus and East Aosta Avenues may also be interested in leasing 100 parking spaces at Metro, Butzlaff said.

“These solutions will be seriously considered,” he said, but the city and private landowners are unwilling to pay the cost of a shuttle service.

A Glendora Town Shuttle operates to APU / Citrus and Downtown Azusa stations. The shuttle runs every 30 minutes during the morning and evening rush hours for $ 1 per round trip. Residents of Azusa have the first shot at metro parking permits. They can also book a ride to and from the station using the call service, but they must call ahead.

The city and Metro said the parking problems were the result of unforeseen demand.

The Gold Line Foothill Extension is more popular than imagined. In June, the average weekday ridership across the entire gold line from East Los Angeles to Azusa / Glendora reached 50,722, up from 43,000 a year ago, Metro reported. Saturday docks soared to nearly 39,000 from 29,000 a year ago, while Sunday and holiday docks were well above June 2015 levels. The Foothill extension may be responsible for ‘much of the line increases; the extension carried 5,000 passengers on weekdays in April, just one month after opening.

Rush hour ridership on the Foothill Extension is roughly equal to ridership on the Union Station segment in East LA that opened in 2009, according to the Metro The Source blog. The traffic was so heavy, Metro increased the number of trains three weeks ago.

“We weren’t expecting this attendance,” Butzlaff said. “Now that we have seen the traffic, we are making adjustments to adapt it. “

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