DATE: November 18, 2005
PUBLICATION: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (GA)
EDITION: Home; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SECTION: Editorial
PAGE: A16

The Atlanta City Council may vote Monday on plans to build a parking deck in Piedmont Park after months of impassioned debate that has pitted neighbor against neighbor. Despite seductive but dubious claims floated by supporters of the deck, council members should reject this project when it comes before them.
The parking deck proposal is part of an otherwise commendable and far less controversial effort to expand and improve the century-old park in the heart of the city. To ease the admittedly maddening lack of on-street parking nearby, the Atlanta Botanical Garden and the Piedmont Park Conservancy have been lobbying to build an 800-space parking deck that would be cut into a hillside and covered with vines.

Under the plan, the botanical garden would pay the estimated $16 million upfront construction costs for the deck. The garden would share the spaces, as well as future revenues, with the city under the auspices of the conservancy, a nonprofit organization that raises money and maintains the park.

Garden and conservancy officials contend that the deck would make the park more pedestrian friendly by diverting vehicular traffic to a separate entrance. They also claim it would provide some relief for surrounding neighborhoods that are swarmed by visitors driving their cars on weekends and during special events.
But it's obvious that building a deck would only serve to attract more cars to the area, which certainly wouldn't make pedestrians, cyclists and skateboarders any safer.

And if the dearth of on-street parking is the rationale for building a parking deck, why stop at a measly 800 spaces? To make a significant dent in the area's parking crunch, 1,600 spaces would really do the trick. By that contorted logic, a 3,200-space parking tower shaped like a giant sequoia would be perfect.

The botanical garden and the conservancy have been pulling out all the stops to sway public opinion in their favor, but it doesn't seem to be working. So far, 19 of the 20 Neighborhood Planning Units that have studied the parking deck have turned thumbs down on it.

Deck supporters have also failed to convince a majority of the members of the Atlanta Urban Design Commission, a city advisory panel. "The park needs more accessibility for people," said Richard Laub, one of the commission members who opposes the parking deck. "But my feeling is it does not need more accessibility for cars."

The council must turn back this ill-advised proposal here and now. The city's signature park, and those who patronize it, deserve far better.