Join me Thursday 8:30-9:30 AM, at Bagitos, to talk and listen about Montpelier, or whatever else you'd like. I'm holding this weekly gathering to keep in touch with residents as I work to represent District 3 on City Council.
While I'm writing, a few words about the parking garage. These are just my opinions, and don't represent City Council as a whole, or the city administration.
First, thanks to everyone who's posted or spoken publicly on this subject. I really appreciate hearing from so many people; it helps me and I imagine others too.
I'm definitely one of the "young" city councilors, having been elected last March. I've been in town since 2009. It's true that I've been trying hard to catch up on all kinds of topics for the past several months. That said, I feel pretty well informed about the history of the proposed parking garage / hotel project.
I've been working on an analogy to help me understand the garage proposal. The analogy probably still needs work but here goes anyways: the garage is like half a ham sandwich. Imagine you're out trying to get a late lunch to go. There's one person ahead of you in line (it's Fred Bashara) and just one lonely ham sandwich left in the case, for $6. Fred turns to you and says "I have only $3. Will you throw in $3 and we can split the sandwich?" Now, you have only $3 too. You can either have half a ham sandwich, and let Fred have half too, or both go hungry. But there's no tempeh reuben, or salad, or anything else in the case that you might prefer.
This is a similar limited opportunity. We can say yes, and get THIS parking garage in THIS spot, with a hotel. Other possible buildings in other spots just aren't in the case right now, partly because Capital Plaza owns the site and is willing to give it to us. Or we can say no, and Capital Plaza will keep their parking lot, and we'll muddle along with the parking options we have now.
Personally, I won't be broken-hearted if we vote it down-- I don't drive and have little use for cars-- but I'm voting in favor of the garage, because I think it's true that more people downtown will mean fewer restaurants failing and so on. And I really don't mind if Fred gets a half-sandwich out of it too; it feels good for both of us. (I should also mention that I don't think I've met the Basharas. I hope Fred doesn't mind being part of my analogy.)
Happy to talk more about it. See you tomorrow morning, or around town.
Dec 24, 2024, 4:30 to 6 PM
Christmas Eve Festival of Nine Lessons and CarolsDec 24, 2024, 5 to 6 PM
Ecstatic DanceDec 27, 2024, 7 to 9 PM