Posted by Parent, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on Oct 16, 2012 at 6:58 am

Now they need to beef up requirements with regard to traffic impact mitigation before our city streets become entirely gridlocked.

Posted by Fairness and Equity, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 16, 2012 at 9:04 am

It always warms my heart when someone speaks for fairness and equity, as Sid Espinosa did. Especially when it helps billionaires make a few more millions.

Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 16, 2012 at 9:14 am

Perhaps we should try and become truly innovative. Downtown parking is a mess and that should be acknowledged.

One idea mentioned by someone is worth considering. How about the idea of having cheap/free parking in the Baylands, say beside Mings, with fast shuttles to downtown every 10 minutes during commute times and 30 minutes at other times. How about trying to alleviate the daytime parking problem in other ways.

Posted by commuter, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Oct 16, 2012 at 10:30 am

Wasn't a bike share program supposed to start this fall? Commuters could take Caltrain to downtown Palo Alto, then bicycle the last mile to any downtown destination. What happened to that?

Some parts of downtown are more than a half hour walk from the train station, but only a few minutes by bicycle. The ultimate way to eliminate traffic congestion is to encourage (some) commuters to not bring their cars.

Posted by chris, a resident of the University South neighborhood, on Oct 16, 2012 at 10:44 am

Resident,

Why would someone park in the Baylands when they can park for free near downtown?

Posted by Tiger Attitude, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Oct 16, 2012 at 11:34 am

Not for Mercedes drivers though, right? I mean, we're special aren't we?

Posted by Enough!, a resident of the Charleston Meadows neighborhood, on Oct 16, 2012 at 12:29 pm

The parking situation scares away at least a third of Palo Alto residents from going downtown, especially the elderly, handicapped and the rushed.

Posted by curmudgeon, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Oct 16, 2012 at 2:01 pm

Moratorium schmoratorium. The parking problem is here, right now. Only a massive parking space construction effort could fix it, and that ain't gonna happen, folks. Nor are those commuters gonna switch to bus, train, or bikes for our convenience. We're flat stuck with the fruits of our City Hall's past stupidity and wishful thinking, not to mention our own election day carelessness.

Posted by John, a resident of the Fairmeadow neighborhood, on Oct 16, 2012 at 4:52 pm

Tried to go do downtown for dinner--gridlocked. Went to Castro.

Anybody try getting off to Page Mill to 280 at commute time?

How about 101 to Oregon than oregon to El Camino?

Yes the price we pay for our election day carelessness, and I'm afraid we are going to repeat the same old thing.

And poor chopper-the gravy train might be derailed for of all things-parking!

Posted by George, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Oct 16, 2012 at 10:17 pm

Council will grant exceptions to the projects in the pipeline right after they make speeches about how much they care about the people that live here. Talk is cheap!

Posted by Max, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Oct 16, 2012 at 11:55 pm

I live on Addison in Professorville and beginning early weekday mornings, I watch all the parking spots on my street get taken up with people who work downtown--food servers, employees at Flipboard and Whole Foods--who park all day long. By 8AM, there is no parking on my street. Why can't downtown employers pay for parking permits for their employees or give employees a credit for taking public transportation to work. I work from home. No clients or co-workers can park within 2-3 blocks of my house and I purposely keep meetings short so that those meeting with me can utilize the 2hr parking zones near my house. I don't have friends visit during the day because there is no where for them to park. Something must be done. I have had people blocking my driveway, completely oblivious to the fact that there is a car there. I have had cars parked in front of my house for days and days on end. I expect this kind of density in a big city like San Francisco, not in Palo Alto. It directly affects the quality of our lives. I support residential parking permits.

Posted by Garrett, a resident of another community, on Oct 19, 2012 at 10:30 am

More parking, more free parking without parking tickets. Excellent. Finding a way to pay for, buy land and build parking spaces to keep everyone happy.

Posted by palo alto mom, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Oct 19, 2012 at 11:44 am

Some solutions are obvious -

Require developers to build a realistic amount of parking for any office buildings. Do not buy-in to the "public transportation" myth. People drive to work.

Increasing the PA shuttle routes is one way to really reduce some of the cars on the road, but the shuttle needs to go more places in Palo Alto. Charge a nominal fee for a shuttle pass and use the $$ for more shuttle routs.

Establish resident only parking on at least one side of the street in Downtown, Professorville, etc. While people shouldn't be guaranteed a spot in front of their house, it is reasonable to expect to be able to park near your home.

Make the parking garages easier to use with pay parking machines in the garage.

Posted by GG, a resident of Stanford, on Oct 25, 2012 at 10:12 am

Over $1000 in parking tickets in the last 3 years have FORCED me to take Caltrain and bike to work on Cal Ave. Thank GOD my employer pays for commuter. Where is all the parking ticket money going, btw? The train is getting crowded, btw.