Tacoma Dome, Where's My Parking?

This weekend an article in The News Tribune explored the mystery of the missing parking lot. The LeMay Museum was built on what used to be Tacoma Dome parking. We know that. Apparently that parking was supposed to be replaced by the City at some point, but that hasn’t happened.

The TNT story explains the contributing factors to the conundrum of the kidnapped parking, and some of the victims of the dastardly disappearance. Concert and event attendees and participants will have to pay more to park in the Dome District. The loss of some parking revenue could cost the Dome about $100,000 annually, after they’ve increased parking rates and re-striped portions of their remaining lots to include more compact only parking. The Dome and the LeMay will also need to coordinate large events. Some local business owners complain that large events mean parking challenges for their customers, but others see little or no impact, and some even appreciate the chance to make a little extra money renting their own parking.

Is this news worth caring about? The TNT article identifies a national trend that Tacoma seems to be following.

Urban planners say the days of big civic gathering places surrounded by acres of parking are a thing of the past. More and more, public arenas in urban areas are emphasizing mass transit and relying on shared parking owned by others.

Despite the loss of about 1,000 parking spaces, the Dome still continues to have proportionally more of its own parking than large event spaces in other cities in our region. We traded in a parking lot that sat empty for significant portions of the year for a world-class museum that will draw visitors and makes another architecturally interesting contribution to Tacoma’s skyline. Are we the only ones who aren’t mourning the lost parking lots? That’s what the Link’s there for, right?

Read more from The News Tribune.