Thursday, March 3, 2016

South Bethlehem Doesn't Need A Parking Garage

Lehigh Valley Live:
South Bethlehem Parking Garage A 'Concrete Elephant' ?
"A proposed 626-space parking garage in South Bethlehem will cost more than $1 million annually...
on the $17.7 million garage,"




The Short Answer Is, Yes It Is
Despite there being about the same number of homes and business for decades there also once were 13,055 workers (over 4,000 per shift) employed at the Bethlehem Steel plant who most needed parking at that time.

In it's heyday (1943) there were 31,523 employees working there.



If they didn't need a deck parking garage back then in South Bethlehem somebody explain to me why they'd need one now ?




Even If There Were A Need Sometime In The Future...
Could it be planners turned too many of the steel's former surface lots into pocket parks and trails?
AND/OR
Allowed for overdevelopment on them w/o requiring developers to provide proper parking for their projects?

It seems to me planners created an artificial problem that didn't need to exist. Perhaps I should just accept the fact this is how these planning people earn their money by creating job security for themselves. Problem is it's costing taxpayers tons of money for greening these areas only to end up costing us even more for parking decks as a consequence.


One Bone Of Contention I Always Had
At one time 10,000's of employees once earned a living taking home a paycheck for their families on this the very same land ArtsQuest, The Sands and others now occupy. Instead of million$ at one time going into peoples pockets from this exact area million$ are now pouring into it. Am I the only one or does anyone else see what's wrong with this picture?

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