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Five ideas offered for Ashland's parking pinch One committee suggestion: Help people change habits By JOHN DARLING ASHLAND -- As a tourist town with a huge influx of tourists and dollars, Ashland has arrived. So have problems. For most of the year, tourists and residents alike cruise hopefully for parking spots, downtown employees fill up nearby neighborhoods with cars and some residents say that all summer, they just don't come downtown. The Chamber of Commerce's Committee of 21 proposed this week to the City Council five long-range solutions to those problems, most of which would require a major shift in driving habits. Their work is in response to the city placing parking and transit on its goal-setting and strategic planning agenda. The city will bring in a traffic consultant to evaluate parking options this summer, said Committee of 21 president Bob Mayers. The biggest of the committee's suggestions is a three- or four-level underground parking garage beneath the Mark Antony hotel, set to undergo renovation by developer Doug Neuman. Others are a park-and-ride shuttle, an expanded bus system, paid downtown parking and parking districts. "The ideas are all very attractive," said City Council President Don Laws, "but we don't know how feasible any of them are." Laws also said he considers the Mark Antony parking ramp a key element of the parking improvement plans. The parking structure would cost about $10,000 per space, and the proposal's 200-300 spaces bring the bill to between $2 million and $3 million, Mayers said. Mayor Cathy Shaw, however, said, "Other than from merchants, I have not heard a huge clamor and roar for the ramp. They are often seen as unsafe (because of crime) and it's not what you want to look at in a historic neighborhood. "The big issue is: Who's going to pay for it?" Laws said the ramp's downside is that it doesn't encourage people to get out of their cars. Encouraging business owners to help workers find alternatives to cars is another option. Shaw pointed to Project A Software as a standout, which has 37 employees and 17 parking spaces on A Street. Company President Jim Teece built showers, lockers and bike racks for employees and arranges carpools on bad weather days. Park-and-ride is a viable option that would require a big change in driving habits, Mayers said. The lots would have to be secure and well-lighted for people arriving to fetch cars at late hours, he said, and the lots would have to have frequent shuttle service or people wouldn't use them. He added that the system has worked well in tourist communities such as Aspen, Colo., and Santa Barbara, Calif. "If we turn away one tourist or resident from downtown, it's bad," Mayers said. "A lot of business people are dissatisfied with the parking shortage. We want to change the mindset so people feel downtown is accessible." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA