Neighborhood activists know from experience that the best way to keep their voices in the process is to attack early, often and relentlessly. But the effectiveness of this strategy notwithstanding, we wish that our neighbors would step back from reflexive complaints about traffic headaches on the issue of a new parking garage at the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center.
Such knee-jerk opposition only encourages more subterfuge and obfuscation by planning administrators. Lack of trust between our homegrown "activists" and decision makers reproduces itself endlessly.
Yes, there are potential problems with the University's proposal for a new multi-tiered garage, not the least of which is that we haven't seen all that much of the proposal yet. We're not entirely convinced the space is big enough for an adequately sized facility, and an egress on Lloyd Avenue could create awkward traffic patterns. But the debate has become a game of political football without any details.
We're enthusiastic about the possibilities of a garage to solve problems that students and staff have in common with our neighbors. Imagine if the Barbour Hall lot and Power Street garage could be given over entirely to staff and faculty parking. Students, who drive infrequently and at irregular hours, could be moved to a compromise facility at the OMAC, closer to dorms than Brown Stadium, where students were reluctant to park while it was an option, but not taking up valuable space at the core of campus.
Our neighbors protect a historical neighborhood worth preserving, and they are an important check on University planners' more grandiose flights of fancy. But the intense reaction to a tentative, vague plan that should have inspired thoughtful dialogue on potential difficulties reminded us of Washington's partisan politics, and we all know how well debates like that fare in producing good compromise policy.
If Executive Vice President for Planning Richard Spies' stated willingness to discuss options and changes is sincere, then the College Hill Neighborhood Association has an opportunity to negotiate for a solution that is mutually agreeable to a problem that plagues them, too. But the venom gets us absolutely nowhere. The asphalt lot behind the OMAC is not a beautiful historical pasture, and no one's views will be obstructed by a reasonably sized, well-planned repurposing of the area.
