Decisions about downtown leave a lot to be desired
Sep 11, 2009
Dear Editor,
The decisions of our City Council, Downtown Association, Redevelopment Agency, Planning Commission, and any others involved in the planning of space use in downtown Morgan Hill, never cease to amaze me. We keep hearing that our downtown is going to be someplace special, like Los Gatos or Santana Row. And yet they use the prime real estate on Monterey Road and Third Street for, what else, parking!
I suggest our decision makers take a close look at the main street in Los Gatos and Santana Row and observe how much, or rather how little, of it is devoted to parking. Guess what. NONE. Ample public parking is available behind the shops, not next to them. And if you think parking behind a business will have a negative effect on business, check out Rosy's at the Beach sometime. Seems pretty crowded every time I pass by and most people park on the street or in back. Rosy's doesn't need a parking lot next door to prosper.
Our town keeps buying up prime properties and, instead of offering them to developers, we invest significant additional amounts to convert them to parking lots. What might happen if they offered a property such as the ones they just purchased next to Sinaloa or on Third Street to a developer for a fair price? Not only would we derive income from the sale of the property, but they would save another large sum by not having to make parking-lot improvements. Let the developer do that. Oh yes, and shops on these parcels would generate sales tax revenues, something I doubt parking ever will do.
Henry Miller, Morgan Hill
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