Where does anything say the spots are meant only for customers? They are public parking spots available for customers, employees, residents (there are some down there) and any rando that wants to park in them. If the businesses aren't successful enough that they can't survive without a parking spot directly in front of their door then that is on them. If parking is that big an issue to the business owners perhaps they should get together and build a private parking area.

Where does anything say the spots are meant only for customers?

It's just common sense. If cutomers choose to not visit because ALL of the spaces are full of employees, the business will eventually close.

What is the attraction to working downtown 8 to 5? Typically that answer leads back to the convienience and neighorly atmowsphere of the businesses. If the businesses did not or cease to exist, downtown will revert back to the 80's when it was crime/drug riddled, and a scarey place to be... then the full time employees won't want to be downtown.

EVERY BODY loses due to the lack of critical thinking and disrespect of your neighbors.

Who is being disrespectful? The business owners that want the spaces to essentially be held for their private use or the employees that have just as much right to them?
Maybe, just maybe, when deciding where to open a business one should consider the parking situation and consider what may happen if the big building across the street is rented out and is full of employees. Is that the sort of critical thinking you are referring to?

A customer parking benefits the business, AND the customer. Since the customers generally turnover every hour or so, one space benefits 8 customers.

As I said before, it is only common sense. Park in ALL the spaces... fewer customers. Fewer customers, and the business closes. Downtown becomes a ghost town, the 8-5 employees will not want to be downtown.

Oh... and... many of the businesses were here years before the 8-5ers.

Is the "cs" part of your username for "College Station"?

And then the businesses downtown will complain about lost revenue from them leaving. You can't make some people happy.

cslifer said:

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And then the businesses downtown will complain about lost revenue from them leaving. You can't make some people happy.

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The businesses won't be there to complain. Thatz the point.

If a business is struggling it is highly unlikely it is due to the loss of a few parking spaces in the area. It is not my job as a taxpayer to subsidize or assist a struggling business.
If you found my answers to your question weird, why not provide yours?

How would you possibly know that? I just posted a video from the business' owners perspective. Did you take the time to watch it? My guess is no.

Are you referencing the video where the lady appears to want the city to enforce a parking ordinance that doesn't exist and says she needs "foot traffic"?

Theres plenty of parking in DTB.

BCSWguru said:

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Theres plenty of parking in DTB.

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You can say that. The business owners clearly say something else. I'll side with the business owners.

cslifer said:

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If a business is struggling it is highly unlikely it is due to the loss of a few parking spaces in the area. It is not my job as a taxpayer to subsidize or assist a struggling business.
If you found my answers to your question weird, why not provide yours?

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One of the main businesses "complaining" has been there for 40 YEARS. The business is just recently having problems due to parking. It is not very conveinient to carry large bulky retail items two blocks away, to accomodate an 8-5er parking right in front of the store.

But then again, I think you KNOW that.

Your defense of the 8-5ers in this is non-sensical.

For the TAMU employees that work in downtown Bryan, do they have a parking permit/pay to park for their job? I would say every other TAMU employee in BCS has to pay for the privilege to park for work. And, if not on campus, have a marked parking area near their building where no one else can park (Connally Building by the CS Hilton, that TAMU building at the corner or Texas Ave and Dominik)?

I paid to park for my TAMU job for nearly 30 years. Why do the Varisco folks get to park for free AND get to be near some great local businesses for their lunch breaks??

BCSWguru said:

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Theres plenty of parking in DTB.

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There is! But some choose NOT to use them wisely.

If someone needs to park, and there is a legal parking spot close to where they need to go I would say they used it wisely.

I tell you, that's a good question how one can park for free. Maybe no one has called them on it for some strange reason? Well clearly that isn't happening. Can you at least state that?

Tibbers said:

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Then what the heck are you saying? That A&M employees aren't responsible for parking in spots that should be meant for paying customers to the area? What is it that you are saying? That the building has been around for 50+ years so its use has been the same throughout? Do tell. What are you trying to say?

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If A&M employees are parking in 90 minute spaces, they are wrong and should be ticketed. If they are parking in the middle of main street next to the median, those are NOT 90 minute spaces and they can park there. They have been asked not to, but some can't walk long distances, so I get it.

Many park in the lots across the tracks behind the building and one block north because it does not interfere with parking for the businesses, and it's not too bad of a walk.

If the businesses don't want people parking on the median on main, the city needs to make those 90 minutes, as well, and ENFORCE IT.

It's not difficult.

Granted, then we can have the discussion about the number of workers in Varisco vs the number of available parking spaces in those two lots.

LightningDammitt said:

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PS3D said:

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AgTrip said:

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Downtown Bryan is easy to access. There is nothing wrong with walking a block or two to get to a store. I'm fine with not being able to park directly in front of an establishment I want to visit. Have you seen Fredericksburg and other small towns like Gruene?? You have to park several blocks away or in an ugly parking lot that could be used for other stores. I don't mind walking down the strip to get to where I want to go. That's part of the charm of going downtown!

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Downtown Bryan doesn't even have a big parking lot to access stores, it's all 90-minute parking that can get competitive if you go on anything more than a sleepy weekday.

There's three blocks between 22nd and MLK that's entirely empty and used for nothing except occasional use by the farmer's market, and then, only adjacent to the streets.

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The bolded underlined part is simply not true.

When did you last visit downtown?

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Those signs are still there, there was a recent article about it. Just because it's not strictly enforced doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

The city literally said it doesn't exist. There is no ordinance so it cannot be enforced. The signs are a suggestion.

[Give your opinion without the sarcasm and your posts will stay on the thread. -Staff]

All that Downtown Bryan business owners want is the 30 and 90-minute parking in front of the storefronts to be enforced.

I remember the days 30 years ago when Downtown was becoming a ghost town but now "there is not enough parking." WOW! The City has done a tremendous job resurrecting Downtown Bryan. Today at noon I had to park two blocks away from a restaurant. Enjoyed the walk and passing other stores of interest. Hooray for Downtown Bryan!

Destination Bryan putting in work

The legacy of Sandy Farris.

techno-ag said:

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The legacy of Sandy Farris.

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MiMi said:

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For the TAMU employees that work in downtown Bryan, do they have a parking permit/pay to park for their job? I would say every other TAMU employee in BCS has to pay for the privilege to park for work. And, if not on campus, have a marked parking area near their building where no one else can park (Connally Building by the CS Hilton, that TAMU building at the corner or Texas Ave and Dominik)?

I paid to park for my TAMU job for nearly 30 years. Why do the Varisco folks get to park for free AND get to be near some great local businesses for their lunch breaks??

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I guess because A&M doesn't own the downtown Bryan parking and they do own the parking lots in all the example locations you gave.

A&M has no right to charge an employee for parking on a city street....do they?

There are a number employees of A&M main campus that park on city streets in the southside historical area and walk across the street to work every day.

Bryanisbest said:

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I remember the days 30 years ago when Downtown was becoming a ghost town but now "there is not enough parking." WOW! The City has done a tremendous job resurrecting Downtown Bryan. Today at noon I had to park two blocks away from a restaurant. Enjoyed the walk and passing other stores of interest. Hooray for Downtown Bryan!

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Yep. 20 years or so ago you could have purchased multiple connected buildings in downtown Bryan for just the back taxes.

I was told that there are about 120 A&M employees in the Varisco Building? Can someone confirm that?

If that's the case, I can see where an additional 100 to 120 vehicles trying to park within a few blocks of the building would cause a serious problem.

I think if I was a restaurant in downtown, I would look into the idea of delivering lunches to the building on a daily basis at maybe a discounted price. Seems like there may be a source of revenue there? If parking issues are as bad as stated, I suspect that most of the employees don't drive to lunch.

Reload84 said:

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Seems like the City of Bryan might be insensitive to the plight of local businesses in downtown Bryan. Gotta have folks coming in the doors everyday to stay in business in this brutal economy. If customers learn it's not easy to deal with the parking issue they won't even try. Let the committee work through their assessment of the situation understanding each day these businesses are struggling! Love downtown---let's not kill the golden goose!

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Century Square says hello too....

If the problem is close parking on weekdays being filled up by employees, why not just make all the close parking 2 hour limited?

Or how about A&M officials pony up the fee to pay their employees to park in the current parking garage a block or so away?

I was shocked when Bob Yancy laid out how difficult A&M is working with the city of college station. I am less shocked to see this occur in Bryan as a result of expectation. Apparently it's par for the course. We really live in a county with three competing power structures.

150 employees, 50 a month, 90k annually for A&M. Isn't that what they charge for tuition now for one student? Tongue in cheek, but still.

woodiewood said:

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I was told that there are about 120 A&M employees in the Varisco Building? Can someone confirm that?

If that's the case, I can see where an additional 100 to 120 vehicles trying to park within a few blocks of the building would cause a serious problem.

I think if I was a restaurant in downtown, I would look into the idea of delivering lunches to the building on a daily basis at maybe a discounted price. Seems like there may be a source of revenue there? If parking issues are as bad as stated, I suspect that most of the employees don't drive to lunch.

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It's really not that bad if you use one of the two lots behind Varisco and one block/two blocks north.

Tibbers said:

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Or how about A&M officials pony up the fee to pay their employees to park in the current parking garage a block or so away?

I was shocked when Bob Yancy laid out how difficult A&M is working with the city of college station. I am less shocked to see this occur in Bryan as a result of expectation. Apparently it's par for the course. We really live in a county with three competing power structures.

150 employees, 50 a month, 90k annually for A&M. Isn't that what they charge for tuition now for one student? Tongue in cheek, but still.

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The parking garage is a lot further than a block or so away. The surface lots behind Varisco and just north are much closer. They are basically right across the street, and then one block further north.

Good to know that the parking garage isn't even close enough for employees that operate directly on main. Almost like it being a necessity for something closer and more effective.

I guess my point then is how can we get A&M to be better stewards to the city's that work hand in hand to aid each other?

More to the point, how can we get the employees at the varisco to simply follow the golden rule here? If they had a business on the street, would they want the same done to them?

Are there enough spaces for the surface lot behind varisco and to the north that would adequately house 120-150 employee's vehicles?

Further, we are only talking about current needs. Is it not reasonable to think 20 years in the future in hope that expansion in the area with more businesses will incur greater need for more adequate parking?

We are acting like the boy with his finger in the dike.

Tibbers said:

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I guess my point then is how can we get A&M to be better stewards to the city's that work hand in hand to aid each other?

More to the point, how can we get the employees at the varisco to simply follow the golden rule here? If they had a business on the street, would they want the same done to them?

Are there enough spaces for the surface lot behind varisco and to the north that would adequately house 120-150 employee's vehicles?

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The answer to your last question is "no".

A&M and Bryan did work together in getting A&M staff into the Varisco. That didn't just happen.

What's important to remember is that the people that work there were not given a choice of where they wanted their office or cubicle to be located. They were told "here is where you are moving".