I mean it's really an issue of competing priorities. I get why if you come from an area with lots of free parking available all the time, you might expect it to be available everywhere, even in the heart of a city. But the local residents might not feel the same, and their interests may evolve over time even if there used to be more parking in the past. They might prioritize doing other stuff with the space, and their interests are as valid as yours.
Do you live in the areas you were visiting? If not, it seems kinda lame to feel that you have a right to a bunch of parking spots there when people who live nearby, or have no need for parking/no issue metroing/biking/walking to get around town may prefer more restaurant seating (or whatever else space gets repurposed for) instead. Not everything has to be built to prioritize cars first all the time.
The congestion issues you're talking about or the shitshow in Adams Morgan and the craziness of M St in Georgetown with millions of pedestrians always trying to get around, those seem like different issues if you ask me. Those places probably shouldn't be car thoroughfares to begin with, they're an absolute nightmare to navigate even before extra restaurant tables were ever brought into the picture.
Jazz-Cigarettes t1_ixdiq80 wrote
Reply to Can we lose that "Outside Dining" that takes up all the parking area across the district?! by eablacksmith
I mean it's really an issue of competing priorities. I get why if you come from an area with lots of free parking available all the time, you might expect it to be available everywhere, even in the heart of a city. But the local residents might not feel the same, and their interests may evolve over time even if there used to be more parking in the past. They might prioritize doing other stuff with the space, and their interests are as valid as yours.
Do you live in the areas you were visiting? If not, it seems kinda lame to feel that you have a right to a bunch of parking spots there when people who live nearby, or have no need for parking/no issue metroing/biking/walking to get around town may prefer more restaurant seating (or whatever else space gets repurposed for) instead. Not everything has to be built to prioritize cars first all the time.
The congestion issues you're talking about or the shitshow in Adams Morgan and the craziness of M St in Georgetown with millions of pedestrians always trying to get around, those seem like different issues if you ask me. Those places probably shouldn't be car thoroughfares to begin with, they're an absolute nightmare to navigate even before extra restaurant tables were ever brought into the picture.