I was interviewed by the Bulletin about downtown parking.
"I'm told you're the person to talk about downtown," the reporter said.
"Uh, oh," I think. I mean, I think it's an innocent statement, because I know a couple of the reporters. But I also fear I may have gained a reputation for being a bit of a spoil-sport. I haven't been shy about my opinions about downtown events.
To me, the irony is that I'm actually pretty middle of the road about these issues. It wasn't that I was against all downtown events, I just felt like they were continuing to add more and more events, and it wasn't helping.
However, I may not have been the most diplomatic about how I said it.
Anyway, if a reporter calls you, what do you do? Saying no comment seems sort of cowardly and weird, but saying something means you'll probably piss someone off.
Certainly the restaurant owners probably won't like me much. I don't like the parklets. People forget that the parklets were promised--and that is the word used--to be temporary.
I also commented that I thought the parklets were unattractive.
Meanwhile, the reporter mentioned that the parking spaces eliminated by the parklets were a tiny fraction of the parking spaces downtown,.
"Do they include the parking garage and the other parking lots in that equations?" I asked.
The answer was yes.
"That's not a fair estimate," I said. "It's a much larger percentage of street parking."
Anyway, once I'm rolling I don't keep my opinions to myself. So I just have to hope I didn't say something stupid.
The funniest part of the conversation was when the reporter told me they were planning to put a robot in the parking garage. "R2D2 traffic cop," she said.
I laughed. "That's a hoot. I hope they do it."
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