Tue 14 Aug 2007
A sold-out game
Posted by Wolfy under Unusefull observations, stupid people
Read in the RGJ today about the two sites for a proposed Minor league ball park. One site is downtown and one is on the Grand Sierra Resort. First con listed in the sidebar for the downtown site is:
“A sold-out game will generate 1,000 vehicle trips downtown, assuming 4,000 take the bus, walk, taxi or a bicycle, according to the traffic study.”
Then there are the typical knowitall comments criticizing Renoites for driving too much and calls for more parking. But holy crap! If we can get 5000 people to go to an event downtown and have 4000 (that’s four fifths) of them leave their cars @ home it would be freaking awesome!
You can’t swing a dead cat downtown without hitting a parking garage. I can’t see paying tax dollars for redundant parking under the assumption that people are too worthless to walk from the Silver Pleagueacy to 2nd and Evans. At some point it’s got to be cheaper to telecast the game so people don’t have to leave their homes.
-M
completely unrelated photo of me provided @ no extra charge.
August 15th, 2007 at 2:31 am
4,000 people NOT driving to those games is completely unrealistic. I love (LOVE) the downtown location and would be a frequent visitor to that stadium. A huge issue would be the surrounding area. That’s not exactly a smooth part of downtown at 10:30pm. So, chances are, I’d drive. I’d certainly look for ways not to do so, but until I saw them, I’d be driving.
August 15th, 2007 at 5:28 am
If it’s the bad neighborhood keeping you in the car wouldn’t a better solution be for the city to put money and effort into fixing that problem rather than forcing people like yourself who live within a 2 mile rad into their cars?
We will find you a way to ride down there.
-M
August 15th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
mrjerz,
First, what makes you think you’d be any safer in your car?
Second, if you love downtown Reno you should become involved with your Neighborhood Advisory Board and work with the City to make it a better, safer place. Why don’t you attend the next Reno City Council meeting and voice your concerns? Why don’t you submit written comments to the City and project developers regarding the downtown stadium proposal? Why don’t you draft a petition to deal with this issue? You could also work with various advocacy groups to improve road safety conditions for cyclists and pedestrians.
Since this particular project is in the planning phase, this is the perfect time to get involved and influence the decision-making process. It takes a lot of effort, but if you are truly invested in the ‘downtown lifestyle’ it is well worth it. To ignore, avoid, or simply complain about blighted areas accomplishes nothing.
Don’t just “look” for opportunities to change the status quo — create them.
August 16th, 2007 at 4:50 am
“First, what makes you think you’d be any safer in your car?”
Simple. Time spent in the area. Car will get me out of there faster than walking through it all.
I agree with a lot of the rest. I don’t think my input is exactly necessary, however, because I think the city is already trying to do what I think they should–put a stadium downtown. My concern is that the area (Evans Ave.) is a bad one right now. The city certainly knows this and would have to show that they’ve cleaned it up before I’d be willing to risk myself and my kids walking or riding to a game. I think they would, but that will raise another set of issues entirely.
My role in making the downtown lifestyle better consists of things that come from part laziness and part doing what I know. I discuss the issues with friends, encourage people to visit downtown, and write about Reno. A good deal of my family’s expendable income goes to downtown business, so I’m doing what I can to make it work. Unfortunately, my experiences in dealing with the city have been less than satisfactory, which leads me to think it’s a waste of time to spend a few boring hours at a council meeting.
August 16th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
I always go back to Reno being the city of transportation. Balloon races, marathons, camel races, Street Vibrations, HANS, bike races, air races….where are the cable cars. It’s expensive but what a great way (expensive but probably worth it) to get people from one side of town to the other. Yes there are busses but cable cars on Virginia is a straight away.
August 16th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
I have to point out that from the time that the game officially ends and you step out of the ball park, a car will certainly not get you out of the area faster than a bike. You have to walk to your car, who knows how far, open your car, which has been sitting exposed to who knows what theft risk, load the fam in the car, and then wait for traffic to creep you to a big enough street to get you out of down town. The Reno Rodeo comes to mind. The Riverside Parking Garage. Sparks Farmers Market.
On a bike you unlock and load up out front with the bulbous security personnel watching over you, then roll by traffic to a waiting green light, and jaunt down side streets home. Sure, you have to take the time to be properly equipped for it, but I’d be happy to help you or anyone else do that. I always get a kick out of seeing families tooling around together on bikes!
I have to agree that the exposure would be an issue with kids. That’s where we have real problems as a city. But the idea that cars are more convenient or faster than bikes, especially in high traffic periods, is highly flawed.
-M