City to spend as much on parking garage as transit
Today’s KC Star has a story about how the city of KCMO is going to spend $47 million of taxpayers’ money to build a 1,000-space parking garage for the new performing arts center under construction at 16th and Broadway. For comparison, the city spends $48 million a year on the bus system.
So the city is essentially spending an entire year’s worth of bus service to build a single parking garage. It’s a massive amount of money that works out to $47,000 for each parking space, more than twice the average for typical parking garages. For the cost of this one parking garage, we could double bus service for an entire year.
Building parking garages is OK when and where they are needed. The interesting issue here is that the city is spending this money at the same that it is cutting other city services to balance the budget, as well as struggling to find enough money to keep the bus system running and pay for a promised light rail system.
To be fair, the contract to build this garage was signed by the last mayor and city council, so most of the current politicians are trying to deal with that legacy. However, the situation still a very bad message.
Despite all kinds of talk about climate protection, the environment, mass transit, green solutions, re-urbanizing the urban core - city leaders are not putting their money where their mouth is. When push comes to shove the city is still putting the automobile first, even the most urban of environments.
- KC Star: City, Kaufman Center for Performing Arts near deal on parking garage.
- KCATA funding information.
- International Parking Institute: parking parking garage costs.
Continue reading ‘City to spend as much on parking garage as transit’ »