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Thursday, September 26, 2013

State of Tennessee most concerned about adding more parking for more cars with a new Sulphur Dell ballpark

Mayor Karl Dean pow-wowed with Tennessee's Republican Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey to lobby for a new ballpark on state-owned land at Sulphur Dell (near Bicentennial Mall State Park). Currently, the only transit plan Hizzoner has for the site is not much of one: it has the fans driving their own cars to games, which seems to be right up the Republican Speaker of the Senate's alley. Lt. Gov. Ramsey wants Mayor Dean to give him more black top:

The state's primary concern is with how much additional parking it can get by giving the city some of its property, said Ramsey. He said the city has agreed to add more parking spots to accommodate the state.

“The person that wants it gives up a little bit more and I want to make sure that’s what we end up doing,” Ramsey told the Post. “I think there will be a solution to this.

“Obviously, I think it would be an economic development tool here for Nashville and I’m a huge baseball fan myself and I agree the Sounds need another stadium. But my job is to protect the state’s interest in this and to make sure that if we’re donating some land, that we get something at least equal if not greater in value back. And so we’re looking at the parking garage and everything else there that can come with that.”


"Equal or greater value" logically means more cars on the roads around Jefferson Street, Rosa Parks Boulevard and the adjacent North End neighborhoods. If you provide more spaces for parking, then the cars are going to come. How is that a sustainable or complete-street transit plan for game nights?

1 comment:

  1. Scary that the state has so much power over the neighborhood given it's cavalier attitude toward livability.

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