What to do with parking?

[Trace One]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/arts/design/taking-parking-lots-seriously-as-public-spaces.html

 

Once again, an old landscape meme is new to architects! Why don’t they call ME when they want an opinion? 

[Roland Beinert]

What IS your opinion on this, Trace?

[Trace One]

? why do you ask, roland?

I think using parking lots for alternative spaces is an idea that in the landscape community is at least forty (yes, FORTY) years old, to the extent that it is even codified in many zoning ordinance, sometimes to the extent that parking requirement free zones are overlaid over commercial districts.

so my feeling is, yawn – old idea. But – a very GOOD idea, only to be surpassed by getting everyone out of their cars entirely, all the time. Down with cars..

what is your opinion, Roland? I seem to remember you are a biker? (as am I – a tricycler..actually)..

[Roland Beinert]

You made it seem like you really, really wanted someone to ask your opinion.

I agree it’s an old idea to use a parking lot as public space. I also think the less we coddle drivers by giving them acres and acres of parking (and super wide lanes and huge turning radii, etc), the fewer people will choose to drive (and the safer everyone will be). So, instead of making parking lots serve as public space, we should completely convert most of them to permanent public spaces.

My car broke down several weeks ago, and I still have no money to get it fixed (It’s a hybrid, and I probably need a replacement battery, which will cost me around $2000). So now I’m relying on my bike for every trip I make. which has made me appreciate it even more. 

[nca]

roland, fyi you might search for the class action lawsuit thats going around for defective batteries, etc for honda civic hybrids if thats what you own, might save you some money.

[Trace One]

go for a tricycle, Henry – once  you go tricycle, you never go bicycle!

[Tosh K]

At least Kimmelman seems to be more in tune with urban issues and landscape interests (so much more than some of his predecessors), let’s give him that.  And more press for a topic many of us have pushed for for so long is not a bad thing.  Would have liked for him to mention Buero Kiefer’s work (it’s published enough).

Now it’d be nice to acknowledge that many tenants have a parking requirement independent of a municipalities (and so many smaller towns compete for a Home Depot or a Walmart… not saying that’s good but they do).

[Roland Beinert]

I got a notice about that, and have sent off the forms.

[Roland Beinert]

Is it a recumbant trike? Several years ago I got fascinated by both recumbant trikes and the idea of folding bikes. I seriously considered getting a scorpian fx, which is a folding recumbant trike. It fits into a car trunk when folded, so you can take it on trips, and takes up a lot less space when you’re not using it.

[Trace One]

yes, a ‘tadpole’ variety, Roland – I love them..I am also fascinated by different types of bikes – I also have a regular big adult tricycle (Schwinn) and a 1973 Sears Cycle Tote, a really great folding bike design – a lot of folding bike designs  are really squirrelly..

 I love bike design –  next thing I am getting is a step-cycle thing – it’s like an  elliptical trainer that you take on the road..

and Craigs list is my source – I never pay full price..

My dream job would be to lead tricycle tours through France, for a  bunch of rich oldies..I know there would be a market for it, among the 1%.

(good luck with the car battery – it can be really tough only having a bike..!!)

[Trace One]

ps, that scorpian is a serious recumbent, Roland, never seen that..very cool… 

[Jason T. Radice]

I’ve got a Montague folding hybrid mountain/street bike. Fullsize frame and 26″wheels. The thing is great and collapses in seconds to fit perfectly in the hatch of my car. And, like I said, it’s full size, so you can get standard parts for it, and it rips right along (I ended up changing out the crank gears to get even more speed out of it).

[Roland Beinert]

I had a montague for a while, and I really liked it. Unfortunately, it’s unusable now, so I got a non-folding Kona. Eventually, if I ever have excess money again, I’d like to get a Brompton. They aren’t full sized, but many people consider them to be the best folding bikes out there. I tried riding one at a shop in Seattle and really liked it. A Birdy bike would be cool, but they are even more expensive than the Brompton.

[Jason T. Radice]

Unless you cracked the frame, you can fix the Monty pretty cheaply, because it does use universal parts. I was climbing a hill in too high a gear and the cassette fell apart. We’re talking bearings enywhere. Just bought a new one off of Nashbar for less than 20 bucks. I wanted to fix it myself, but with my limited space, I just couldn’t manage it. So I took it to my local shop, and they installed it for $7. Yes, 7 dollars. I also got a whole bike tune up…that was $70. Swapped out the front crank for a cheap Shimano, and its been perfect for the last 4 years. Much cheaper to fix the Montague than buy a Brompton.

[Roland Beinert]

It was a really weird problem. The seat post got stuck in the seat tube, because I never oiled it. It got all corroded. I took it to a bike shop, and they tried getting it out without any luck. They told me they couldn’t get it out without destroying the bike. So I took it home and tried every suggestion I could find on the internet. Nothing worked. My dad suggested heating the seat tube with a blow torch, but I don’t think I could do that without destroying the hinge where it folds. It’s still sitting in my living room. Maybe someday I’ll find a way to fix it. It’s one of those problems that seems like it should be really easy to fix, but, apparently, it’s a death sentence for a lot of bikes. I like my Kona, for now. I won’t be getting a Brompton or any other new bike until I have a decent job.

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