Cars, cars, cars

From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

The Carpionato Group’s planned $100 million mixed-use development in Newport at the site of the hideous Newport Grand casino would certainly be an improvement. Carpionato generally does classy work. But I found a rendering of the project a little depressing because of the capacious use of land to serve the car culture. How much better it would be if bus service were good enough to eliminate the need for all that windswept parking lot space.

This reminds me of a survey by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council in Massachusetts of around 200 apartment buildings inside Route 128. The surveyors discovered, in The Boston Globe’s words, “that about 30 percent of their parking spaces go unused, even in the wee hours of the morning, when most residents are likely home.’’ Space taken up for parking means less space available for housing, which in turn means higher housing prices.

To read the report, please hit this link.

To read The Globe’s article, please hit this link.