Cary Street Parking Changes Considered

In a recent VCU’s Telegram for Students, this bullet point appeared: 2. Changes to Parking on West Cary Street VCU is considering requesting the City of Richmond change the parking restriction on the south side of West Cary Street, the 900 and 1000 blocks, from no restriction to 2-hour parking, similar to the majority of campus streets. […]

March 3, 2010; 8:12 AM • by Oregon Hill

In a recent VCU’s Telegram for Students, this bullet point appeared:

2. Changes to Parking on West Cary Street
VCU is considering requesting the City of Richmond change the parking restriction on the south side of West Cary Street, the 900 and 1000 blocks, from no restriction to 2-hour parking, similar to the majority of campus streets. The change is being considered because of the opening of the Cary Street Recreation Center and the demand for parking near this new facility (I added boldness here- ed.). Please direct comments to Paul Walker, manager of Parking & Transportation, at prwalker@vcu.edu no later than March 12.

While this is in congruence with making the Cary Street corridor more urban-business-friendly (something that the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association is in favor of), it stands in contrast to what the VCU administration said during its campaign against the neighborhood:

E. Objection to parking. This project will not increase the enrollment at VCU, and therefore does not increase campus parking requirements. .

Of course, most Oregon Hill residents are not surprised in the least by this. It fits in with the rest of the Student Recreational Center controversy. (Again, OHNA was never against VCU students getting a new facility. The location and implementation were the issues). Hopefully, someday soon, VCU will take more positive steps to allow healing.