According to this Instagram post Salt Lake City is doing small businesses wrong. According to this Instagram post the city is closing off a parking lot the Salt Lake Roasting Company patrons use when they want to get their java, chatter or study on. It seems this could really hurt their business and furthermore, there may be a mysterious plot for the city to get property. For what? No one seems to know; but if it’s another courthouse, we should pass and keep pouring coffee. The last thing this city needs is another courthouse.
The question here is if it’s the city’s responsibility to provide parking for these businesses? With all the problems of parking downtown: parking robots that don’t work, no parking spots, too many places you aren’t allowed to park and the new biking lanes on Third South that are confounding just about everyone, many residents of Salt Lake and surrounding counties find enjoying the capital city to be too tedious. Is Salt Lake kidding itself that we aren’t a commuter city and our love for cars isn’t going to be replaced with some bike rentals and Trax lines? This is the crossroads downtown finds itself in. Are we small, quaint and clean or do we want to be cosmopolitan and bustling. I can’t think of a single major city that has both. Parking is a premium in such cities. It’s the nature of a busy metropolitan area and for a city like Salt Lake, downtown business can’t thrive if people have no place to put their Subarus. After all, you can’t have commerce without patrons.
People who live downtown will use these businesses, but for those (Utah’s bridge and tunnel crowd?) who want to come down just for a cup of joe or a burrito, it’s a headache. Although…Smith’s Marketplace has lots of parking. You’ll just have to, ya know, walk a bit. (Also, as far as I know, Smith’s has invited anyone to use their parking for anything but Smith’s).
The mystery here is what Salt Lake wants this space for. I couldn’t find any articles, any designs or plans for the block, so I am taking this Instagram’s word for it. The all watching eye of the people!!!
