I'm pretty sure there has been no word either way toward the demolition of a local park for, quite literally, a parking lot.
If you're not familiar with Oneonta politics, allow me to explain. There has been talk about a tremendous lack of parking space for people's vehicles in Oneonta. Of course, such isn't the case. You're looking at two small pictures of the top floor of the parking garage I took a while back. It was a peak time, and there were plenty of folk walking around, so apparently they've parked somewhere while barely touching this place.
Now that an historic building is being renovated, and in the process being turned into smaller stores and apartments, people are pre-emptively demanding even more parking space. What the hell, seriously.
I'd like to pose a few realistic solutions. Considering that thought toward the long run is essentially proven to be more effective in the long run, it would be sensible to create a space for commuting folk to leave their cars behind, then connect the rest of Oneonta and the surrounding area to an electric-run trolley system.
If every employed body in the city donated $100 to a project, we could come up with almost $2M. Realistically speaking though, a few large financial backers could run the trolleys through Oneonta, and turn an incredible profit in the long run.
Because America has lost the sense of enjoyment in day-to-day life, it's not surprising that there would be opposition to this idea. But Oneonta did have a trolley at a point, and in that time, Oneonta thrived.
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3 comments:
While having a trolley system in Oneonta seems cool in itself I think it leave a few unanswered questions.
First, when you mention creating space for commuters to leave their cars behind, isn't that sort of self-defeating? Assuming of course that lack of parking was really an issue (we both know it really isn't, as we've all gone to Oneonta on its busiest days more than once, with little trouble finding a place to park).
I don't know if you intended this blog to be a medium of debate, so just tell me if you didn't but I have a few points to give.
1. Oneonta has a reasonably good bus system (as far as I know). Very few people use this, however, despite the parking "issue", and I think this could be a fairly accurate measure of what it would be like with a trolley system.
2. The fact that Oneonta once had trolley, and thrived at the same time does not really follow that we should have a trolley system. Technological change is possibly the biggest force in economic development (assuming you're not a Keynesian economist), thus if trolleys were still the optimal form of transportation (even locally), then the market would dictate that they would still be used.
3. San Francisco has a trolley system. You don't want to be like them. Do you?
There are some points where I can agree:
1. Oneonta's roads are absolutely horrible, so a fairly large project in transportation infrastructure would more than likely be a good thing.
2. Trolleys are generally exciting to people who aren't used to them, and that in itself might draw in some people, and improve Oneonta's economy. In this area, I disagree on making trains the nation's primary source of transportation, but there probably are a few benefits to having a few local systems.
All in all, I think it seems like an excessive solution to save a few trees. If it were up to me, and parking were really an issue, I'd propose adding a floor or two onto the parking garage (but then, as you've shown in the pictures, nobody uses it anyway).
You make some excellent points, Niggz. There are a few historical points to make re: trolleys. The biggest and simplest have been the federal and state government's endorsements of busses/personal automobiles, by financing to the maximum roads and projects for them and them alone, and legislating against trolleys by banning nearly every form at the behest of early GM/Ford.
Anyway, Oneonta did quite well when downtown had a grid of trolley systems, and granted it would not be a breeze to work out, given a lot of traffic would need to come from southside. But, a park-and-ride system like one sees for busses to NY, or throughout a lot of the Southern coastal towns might do well. Or even just servicing the colleges and locals would lift a huge traffic (not to mention environmental) burden off the city. The argument can also be made that a rail/trolley system would in fact immediately improve business traffic by removing the obstacle and costliness of maintaining and driving a vehicle.
It's a good discussion to have, however, and it would be great to see it at least discussed in Oneonta--famous for its train legacy.
Your idea sounds a lot like the stock idea--which might make it quite appealing to people, given they would be investing just a small amount (wouldn't be a huge deal to lose) and a chance at a great return.
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