Parking in Downtown - Perception Is Reality

I attended a great meeting today with city folks, parking consultants and property owners. The subject: Parking in Downtown Lakeland. I will not bore you with all of the details of the meeting, but just know that it was constructive. Like any 100 year old urban core, Downtown Lakeland has its share of parking issues.

I am of the belief that the parking problem, to a certain extent, is really a perception problem. Sure, there is plenty of parking in Downtown. But much of the parking is away from the retail core, which makes the free and available parking the least convenient. Therefore there is a perception of not enough parking in Downtown. But for those of us who do not mind walking 100 yards or so when we don't get lucky enough to get that coveted spot right in front of where we want to be, there is not a parking crisis today.

But we have to look to the future as we work to get our retail core back on track and court more large companies to utilize our office spaces. I am in full support of building parking structures that incorporate retail, office, residential and parking all in one so that we do not fill our Downtown with more Main Street garages. I think that is where we are headed through public/private partnerships discussed today.