Estes Park has once again hidden behind “the study.” If one were to look at town in the summer they would find that this is the most miserable place in the universe to park. Driving endlessly around the small parking lots in hopes of finding a spot is upsetting to visitors and shopkeepers as well. It is estimated in national studies, that each parking spot generates a minimum of $15,000 in revenue. It is estimated, again nationally, that the number of parking spaces needed for 1000 sq feet of retail is 5 or 6; Estes Park has 2.
The single biggest complaint of visitors is parking. Second is probably the tacky inventory our stores carry, but that’s for another comment.
So, what is the solution? It seems that 82% of shop owners feel we have a parking problem, with 34% saying there are not enough spaces. The answer is “we need more signage.”
Paint the signs a different color, valet parking, have employees parking elsewhere.
Employees should park elsewhere. Just where would that be? A really good idea is to turn the Knoll into a great big parking lot. It’s useless for anything else. Sorry, there was one person there a few weeks ago, but then they could still poop their dog there.
These solutions are an excuse to do nothing, which is the one constant in this town. If you want it, you can’t have it and it’s not our fault, it’s your fault.
Here’s the solution:
1. Have employees park in Loveland and walk up.
2. Turn visitors away and route them up HWY 34 and Hwy 36 and force them to go Hwy 7 back to Lyons without entering the town. If we didn’t have so many people we wouldn’t have to have so much parking and wouldn’t have to re-paint the signs those gay colors.
3. Give parking spaces to the National Park so we can have more empty cars downtown with no shoppers at all. This will help the retail store in the visitor center that the Town wants to compete with downtown.
4. Keep stores open 24 hours to stagger the parking. The study says midnight is a good time to park.
The only paint this town needs is to broadcast our true colors – Black. That would fairly indicate our future, which is very bleak.
