My city bought out some succesful busniesses downtown to demolish their buildings and build a new stadium with surface level parking for all the people who live outside of the city to drive to. Can we at least get a parking garage instead of surface level so we dont have to demolish businesses and homes for the benefits of suburban and rural sports fans?
Unfortunately the reality often is that it's cheaper to buy more land and demolish buildings that get in the way than it is to build tall to solve for that. And that prestige project has to be cheap so that it can get out the door in this local politicians election cycle. Now if people could be held accountable for really bad choices they made a long time ago...
And make public transport free with your ticket. Works wonders here (Brisbane)!
They have near constant bus service on game night from the hub a couple of suburbs over - catch a bus to the hub and then straight on to the stadium.
Or bus / drive to the train station and train in - whatever your want.
A town next to us has free transport and it doesn't pan out great unless you have plenty of income from other places. They ended up with older busses, fewer lines and not much increase of people using it. A cheap, sustainable ticket will always be better for longevity than a free one, especially when the government changes and other things become a priority
I know right? But that makes sense to do and most places have politicians that want their prestige projects where it suits them and those usually don't make too much sense. Besides that good public transport solutions are boring. That huge parking space looks way more impressive from above...
If cost is the concern, why did it get placed downtown where land is expensive? The stadium could have been built on the outskirts where land is cheaper and they can build as much parking as they want.
We should also be factoring in the long term impacts. Over the course of 20 years is it better to have a sea of parking around the stadium or a parking garage which leaves space for local restaurants, shops and merch stores to open right next to the stadium?
We should do that. But politicians that are out of office in a couple of years really don't care because by then it won't be their problem to solve. Solving actual problems is boring but the flashy project that was totally unnecessary will be remembered. For better or worse.