The good folks who live and work in Broad Ripple should think seriously of deposing their representatives who take the form of the Broad Ripple Village Association. It is clear the BRVA does not have their best interests in mind.
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| Proposed Broad Ripple Parking Garage |
First, it was the proposed parking garage. BRVA agreed with the city on locating the garage at the intersection of College and Westfield/Broad Ripple Avenue, an intersection that is on the edge of the Broad Ripple business district. The parking study commissioned on the issue said that was a bad location for a garage due to traffic congestion and that parking really isn't a problem in Broad Ripple except late Friday and Saturday nights when young people come to visit the village's many bars. BRVA still supported the project even though the location was not in the best interests of the community.
To make matters worse, officials at BRVA signed a non-disclosure agreement to keep details of the deal a secret, including the fact that the taxpayers are footing the bill for the cost of the garage while the ownership and all the revenue is being given to Keystone Construction.
Now it turns out that the proposed Broad Ripple parking garage does not even fit on the lot. See Had Enough Indy's article entitled
"Broad Ripple Parking Garage - Farce Extraordinaire."
Then you have Broad Ripple Avenue. People who live and work in the village are furious with city officials for removing two traffic lanes from Broad Ripple Avenue to make room for two bike lanes (that I have yet to see anyone use). As a result, traffic backs up during much of the day, as cars idling at stop lights spew pollution into the air. Numerous people have commented on blogs and in comments sections of newspaper that they are avoiding going to Broad Ripple and the village's businesses.
Of course the folks at the BRVA stood up for the Broad Ripple residents and business owners, right? Think again. It turns out BRVA was the driving force behind the idiotic decision to take away two Broad Ripple traffic lanes and replace them with bike lanes.
The saying is that people get the representation they deserve. I'm sorry but my friends in Broad Ripple deserve a lot better than the Broad Ripple Village Association.
4 comments:
Keep in mind that after the garage is built, per the ACS parking meter contract, the city is obligated to institute residential permit parking in the Broad Ripple area. This by itself will generate demand for the garage.
Aaron, that's exactly why I contend that the garage really doesn't add many spaces to Broad Ripple. It just takes any non-residents parking in the neighborhoods and dumps them into one central area.
Haha, well how do you think the biking community feels? You have somehow anointed yourself the supreme "serious commuter" who thinks he speaks for everyone on a bicycle and how/where they should ride.
It makes no sense to have lanes of traffic stuffed with cars yet almost never a single bike in the bike lanes. This is bad for business, it's bad for motorists, and it's terrible for the environment. I'm all for adding biking lanes... in the downtown style that leaves the congested roadways intact but reducing essential lanes for the biking community, which in Indy somehow manages to act aggrieved when it sometimes feels like the only form of transportation the city likes, is just plain a bad idea.
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