I don’t know of anyone in the world who loves parking—except maybe Lorraine Baines—but that’s not exactly the kind of parking I’m talking about here…
I’m talking about the hassle of cruising up and down the rows of a Wegmans parking lot, trying to squeeze in next to the hummer who decided he needed an extra couple of spaces, fighting the nine other drivers who won’t even entertain the thought of walking an extra twenty feet to pay $5 for a bottle of water.
Do me a favor. If you’re at home, step outside for a moment and take a good, long look at your driveway and garage (Don’t worry, the Internet will still be here when you get back). If you don’t have a driveway or garage, step outside and catch me a Charmander!
Did you do it? Did you stare intently at your driveway/garage situation? Great! Now, think about it for a moment and answer honestly: Does your car have a bigger bedroom than you do? Seriously. What percentage of the space that you own/rent/occupy is dedicated solely to vehicular storage? Your car isn’t paying rent. Why does it get the biggest room in the house?!
What else could you do with that space the garage sits on? A jam space for your band? Art studio? Game room? Greenhouse? The possibilities are many…
Over the past year I’ve been itching to move downtown (“Oh, you live really downtown” is the common response upon mentioning my address). This past spring I finally ripped the bandaid and moved out of my mom’s house. In the month between choosing where to live and moving in, I scoped out my new neighborhood nearly every day. It was always obvious that surface parking lots dominated the usable land in the St. Joseph’s Park neighborhood, or as I like to call it, St. Joseph’s Parking Lot. What shocked me was one particular lot that never saw a car. Morning, noon, and night I drove by the lot on the Northwest corner of the intersection at Franklin & Pleasant Streets . Every time there sat only a rusty chain and two cones across the entrance…
Yesterday we took a bike ride down inside the Inner Loop with Matthew Ehlers to see how Rochester’s “big fill” was progressing. Quite nicely I’d say. But once filled, the next question becomes, what will fill the void.
RocSubway reader Ben Voellinger pointed us to a recent document posted to the City’s website that outlines recommendations for future development(s) along the new Union Street. Thanks Ben! Let’s take a look…
Today’s RocLink photo was taken by Chris Seward on April 3, 2010 in an abandoned building in Lockport. Chris says the three-story building was brimming with antique motorcycles and parts. According to this article the bikes made their way here from Kohl’s Cycle Salvage shop on the north side of the Erie Canal. The Mr. Kohl died in 2002, and the motorcycles were left here until the building crumbled around them.
And now, from local development to just plain news of the weird, here are your RocLinks for this past week…
Well, it’s time to celebrate. Rochester has just won the 2014 Streetsblog USA Parking Madness tournament . To outsiders, Rochester is a Cinderella story (who in the world would have picked us to beat out Detroit in the second round?). But anyone who reads this blog is probably not surprised. We’ve been fighting the parking madness mindset on these pages for years. It’s just that now, the national blogosphere knows about Rochester’s dirty little parking problems. Our asphalt is hanging out there for the world to see.
How embarrassing. Right? Some people have asked, “Why would we want to win such a negative contest? Doesn’t this paint Rochester in a bad light?” Now the man who nominated Rochester, Matthew Denker, explains why he did…
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After the Erie Canal was rerouted south of downtown Rochester, the Rochester
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![For Park(ing) Day is tomorrow. [IMAGE: Provided]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/parking-day-2016-01.jpg)
![For Park(ing) Day this year, some folks want to turn a downtown parking lot into a public art gallery space. They are asking for submissions of visual art, in any form, showing how you would transform one unused place in the city of Rochester. [IMAGE: Provided]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/parking-day-2016-request-for-art-01.jpg)
![An empty parking lot in downtown Rochester at Franklin & Pleasant Streets. [PHOTO: Young Urban Preservationists]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/parking-day-2015-02.jpg)
![A recent report from Stantec outlines recommendations and suggestions for the redevelopment of Union Street after the Inner Loop is filled. [IMAGE: Philip Michael Brown Studio / City of Rochester]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-inner-loop-development-00.jpg)
![Motorcycles in an abandoned warehouse in Lockport, NY. [PHOTO: Chris Seward, Flickr]](http://rochestersubway.com/images/photos/lockport-motorcycles-chris-seward.jpg)
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