closed #161905
Inaccessible Parking
- Case Date:
- 11/29/2017
Hello, I'm a part-time employee (SPEA fellow) at the City, in the Dept. of Planning & Transportation, and I have a few concerns about the part-time parking spots at Showers. First, is the part-time spots are incredibly far away from the main entrance to City Hall, adjacent to the Showers Red lot (in fact, as far away as you can possibly get while still staying in the Showers parking lot). Now, this isn't a problem for an able-bodied person like myself, but I had a friend who worked as an intern for the Controller's office this summer who has knee problems, making this walk excruciating for him. So bad was it that he usually parked at a meter, for an entire four hour shift, which meant that he essentially had to pay $4 to come to work everyday. My other issue with the part-time parking spaces is the incredible lack of them: there are only 5. Very rarely are less than 5 part-time workers working at one time, so it's really a crap shoot when I come to work (MWF) as to whether I can actually find a space. Many times I've also had to park at a meter. And today (11/29) the PT employee parking signs that designate which spaces are available to PT employees were removed, so some employees at the business end of Showers were parked in what should be PT spots, so there were even less spaces available than usual. I understand wanting to encourage walking/biking and public transit, but this isn't feasible for everyone, because rent is astronomical near Showers, especially to PT workers who don't get paid very much. I live pretty far out, so walking/biking is pretty much impossible, and public transit is highly inconvenient. I just wish the City was a little more inclusive of its part-time workers (especially those with disabilities), and the fact that only 5 parking spaces are available to us (a 5 minute walk from the entrance to City Hall, no doubt) is really disappointing and, in fact, a little insulting. I hope, in the renovation of parking happening in the FT section of the lot, that the City will consider adding some more PT spaces.