Long live Logan Square!

From The Dirt, we learn that “Living Near Public Transporation May Lengthen Your Life.”  At The Dirt, they write about a recent study done for The American Public Transportation Association that explains the positive effects of living near public transit, the obvious ones you might expect and often hear touted:  that people drive less and walk more, and the less obvious ones you might overlook and that tend not be used in advocating for public transit and transportation oriented development (TOD):  that there are fewer traffic fatalities per capita than places without public transit.

Logan Square residents are well situated to “live long and prosper.”

Is there a parking problem?

No need for more parking

Last week I listened to yet another Milwaukee Avenue business owner lament the lack of parking along Milwaukee Avenue.  But this stretch of Milwaukee Avenue between Logan Boulevard and Diversey Avenue does not need more parking.

Merchants often take the view that shopper inconvenience due to parking is a significant factor in keeping shoppers away. But more parking would be counterproductive to merchant interests.

More parking means less space devoted to attractions that bring people to the street for a purpose.  More parking means more open vacuous spaces that present a perceived barrier to pedestrian activity.  If all, or most of what the eye can see is empty space, why would you want to walk there?  It’s not green and inviting;  they paved this paradise a long time ago.