Globe is the one that actually hit her in the kneecaps.
"Quest for parking in Boston worse than ever" by Beth Healy | Globe Staff October 04, 2014
You’re navigating downtown traffic, with minutes to spare to make a meeting. Street parking is hopeless, so you head for a central garage, resigned to paying a small fortune for a cramped patch of pavement.
Then, disaster: A “lot full” sign blocks the entrance, like a callous maitre d’ turning away all but the dining elite. Even worse, other nearby garages are packed too.
Parking in downtown Boston has always been a headache, but the quest for a space during prime time, middays between Tuesday and Thursday, has become tougher than ever. Blame an improving economy and the loss of acres of cheap parking on the waterfront -- garage executives say Boston is experiencing a full-blown parking shortage.
“My staff has seen people in tears. I think they would give their car away,’’ said Pam Messenger, general manager of the Friends of Post Office Square, which owns the popular Garage at Post Office Square. “It’s the new normal.’’
*********
Jammed parking lots are symptoms of a healthy business climate. They signal that employment is up and tenants are occupying downtown office buildings. But with executives shelling out $475 a month and more to secure daily spots for their BMWs and Lexus SUVs, there are fewer spaces for people in town for meetings, meals or tourism.
Boston’s current parking crunch is the product of conflicting ambitions. City planners placed parking caps on downtown and South Boston years ago, hoping to reduce pollution and encourage the use of public transportation, while mayors and developers pressed for business and residential expansion.
James Gillooly, interim commissioner of the Boston Transportation Department, estimates about 3,000 spaces have been eliminated in the Seaport area over the past several years, as offices, condos and hotels have replaced open lots. Some of the new buildings allow public parking, and other, more expensive lots have surfaced. But the landscape has changed dramatically for hundreds of people who once parked on the waterfront and walked to work downtown.
“As this neighborhood grows,’’ said Gillooly, “there will be spaces that used to be used by people in the financial district, who now have to come up with a new strategy of how to come and go from work.’’
Oh, that's why this gets front-page treatment in the Bo$ton Globe.
Gillooly suggested a ride on the MBTA, followed by a walk from South Station, or perhaps a short pedal on a Hubway bike. “It’s time for a recalibration of their thinking,” he said.
Spoken like a true member of the elite political cla$$.
Related: Major crimes spike on MBTA
I've recalibrated my thinking and have decided you should stay out of Boston.
Bostonians stubbornly love their cars, especially in bad weather.
Bad weather? In the age of global warming?
But they must deal with two hard and fast numbers:
Time to get the hell out of the city.
--more--"
Also see:
Back Bay canals? Parking anxieties focus minds on climate change
Beverly’s historic Loring House set to fall
Another day of unusual heat bakes California
Climate fight must expand beyond usual suspects
The march was a show of force, the Globe tells me.
As electricity costs rise, market for heat pumps takes off
I thought that might be an electrifying way to end this post.
As for me, I've been shorted out by the lying, agenda-pushing, war-promoting paper, right down to the endless -- and I am sure unthinking -- use of war terminology for every damn issue no matter how innocuous. Talk about internalizing the values of your ma$ters.
