[OMS_MANAGERS] We welcome your ideas on a interactive session at the OMS Conference

[Thomas Taylor]

Hit send too soon, 

But that isn't the large problem with this issue. La Grande parking is only full at lunch on week days and during dinner hours in certain blocks. Yet there is a persistent issue with people complaining about parking. 

This isn't a medical issue. That's one thing. This is lazy people who are accustom to parking in front of the business they want to go in.

I think wayfinding signage about walking distances or to encourage parking in parking lots or less crowded areas would be a worthwhile pursuit. Perhaps a how to on information campaigns about walking distances and how to change the perception problem would be an interesting presentation. But again this isn't a medical or disability issue. That's it's own problem. This is entitled and lazy people who will park 100 yards out at Walmart but will complain about walking one block down town.

Perhaps if you change the habits of people to walk more and park in designated areas (city lots, ect) there would be more room for the people that need to park closer. 

In my opinion we tend to problem solve in an ideal world with grande and cost prohibitive solutions, whereas lower-cost options might be more feasible, easier to implement, and more effective than installing conveyor belts on the sidewalks (an exaggeration, but you get the point). Most of the time a parking problem is a perception problem, so developing tools to deal with the perception issue would be a great offering.

Just my 2¢

-Thomas 


Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 24, 2017, at 6:07 PM, Thomas Taylor <director at lagrandemainstreet.org> wrote:
> 
> We have a couple businesses here in La Grande that get upset when roads are closed for events because their customers are largely elderly and can't walk far so parking a block down isn't possible. 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Aug 24, 2017, at 1:31 PM, David Snider <dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us> wrote:
>> 
>> Sheldon, I don't think Sarah was referring to people with medical issues.  
>> 
>> We have had a similar problem here in Sandy from time to time, and it has to do with people's perception of what is an acceptable amount of on-street parking.  We get complaints all the time that there isn't enough on-street parking in Sandy and that we need to provide more parking.  However, ODOT describes a parking capacity issue as when your on-street parking is something like 80% full.  The latest parking study we've done has indicated that at the busiest time of the day, our on-street parking was at 35% capacity, and we couldn't identify anywhere in our downtown where a citizen would not be able to find an on-street parking spot within 2 city blocks of their destination, and in almost every case there was an available parking spot on the same block.    
>> 
>>  -- David C. Snider
>> Economic Development Manager
>> City of Sandy
>> 39250 Pioneer Boulevard
>> Sandy, OR  97055
>> (503) 489-2159
>> dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us
>>  
>> 
>>> On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 12:52 PM, Sheldon Delph <s_delph at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> Sarah, I, most of the time, find that, due to medical conditions, find that walking 100 yards is difficult. 15 yards is roughly the length of 2 cars. The concept that walking 10 blocks round trip to participate in a Farmer's Market or go to a business with no nearby parking, solely because someone believes that we are supposed to walk a mile a day, is, frankly, discriminatory, and very much against both the intent and the letter of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Your concept is good, but far too narrow. Perhaps the conversation needs to be around how to best serve all people in the community to access the most services.
>>> 
>>> --Sheldon Delph, Weston, Oregon Main Street
>>> 
>>> Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Tablet.
>>> 
>>> On Aug 24, 2017 12:07 PM, Sarah Lu Heath <sarah at astoriadowntown.com> wrote:
>>> How change perceptions about parking. IE: We don’t have a parking problem, we have people with philosophical problems walking more than 15 yards.
>>> 
>>>  
>>> 
>>> Sarah Lu Heath
>>> 
>>> Executive Director
>>> 
>>> Astoria Downtown Historic District Association
>>> 
>>> No.1-12th Street, Suite 114
>>> 
>>> PO Box 261
>>> 
>>> Astoria, OR 97103
>>> 
>>> 503.791.7940
>>> 
>>> www.AstoriaDowntown.com
>>> 
>>>  
>>> 
>>> From: OMS_MANAGERS [mailto:oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of STUART Sheri * OPRD
>>> Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2017 11:19 AM
>>> To: Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
>>> Subject: [OMS_MANAGERS] We welcome your ideas on a interactive session at the OMS Conference
>>> 
>>>  
>>> 
>>> This email is being distributed over the OMS listserv. All responses will also go over the listserv.
>>> 
>>>  
>>> 
>>> We will be wrapping up the Oregon Main Street Conference, Oct. 4-6, in Oregon City, with an interactive session to Trouble Shoot Issues on Main Street. The idea is to help a community address an issue in their downtown. In 5-minutes or less, towns will present their issue to a panel of experts and then the experts will brainstorm solutions. Our awesome facilitator is Michele Reeves from Civilis Consulting – you might know her as a presenter at several of our previous conferences. We have some ideas submitted from a few communities already, but we still have room for a few more. You can respond over the listserv or email me directly at: sheri.stuart at oregon.gov
>>> 
>>>  
>>> 
>>> Here’s some of the issues towns have mentioned (we welcome feedback on these topics as well – which are you most interested in hearing some ideas and ways to assist?):
>>> 
>>>  
>>> 
>>> Property owners that use historic buildings as “storage”
>>> Strategies for filling up vacant buildings in an historic small Oregon town. 
>>> Creating a collaborative relationship between Downtown Associations, Chambers, Visitors Centers & regional tourism NGOs when the missions overlap and the players see the dynamic as a "zero-sum-game"
>>> Funding a downtown organization to include a paid downtown manager on a stable basis. What are the tools and how are they employed to convince skeptics?
>>> Educating local business owners on running their business like a business and not like a hobby.  (i.e., meeting the needs of the community and not the personal needs of the owner.
>>>  
>>> 
>>> Regards, Sheri
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _____________________________________________________
>>> OMS_MANAGERS mailing list
>>> OMS_MANAGERS at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
>>> http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/oms_managers
>>> Hosted by the Oregon State Library. The Library is not responsible for content.
>>> Questions related to message content should be directed to list owner(s) or the sender of the message, by phone or email.
>>> Technical questions? Call 503-378-8800.
>>> 
>> 
>> _____________________________________________________
>> OMS_MANAGERS mailing list
>> OMS_MANAGERS at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
>> http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/oms_managers
>> Hosted by the Oregon State Library. The Library is not responsible for content.
>> Questions related to message content should be directed to list owner(s) or the sender of the message, by phone or email.
>> Technical questions? Call 503-378-8800.
> _____________________________________________________
> OMS_MANAGERS mailing list
> OMS_MANAGERS at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
> http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/oms_managers
> Hosted by the Oregon State Library. The Library is not responsible for content.
> Questions related to message content should be directed to list owner(s) or the sender of the message, by phone or email.
> Technical questions? Call 503-378-8800.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/oms_managers/attachments/20170824/2cbfbf7b/attachment.html>