back-in angled parking

Recently, the subject of back-in angled parking came up on a traffic engineering discussion board that I follow. 200 South has a great example of a successful application of this type of on-street parking.

I had a discussion with one of Salt Lake's traffic engineers about why they do this, and where it makes the most sense. He said it has everything to do with the location of bike lanes.

Notice that the cars have to cross over the bike lane to get to their parking spots. By having drivers back into their stall, it makes it easier to see bicycles when exiting the stall, making this situation safer for the bicyclists. Drivers still have to reverse over the bike lane when entering the stall, but the drivers have a better view of the oncoming bicyclists at this time.

In some cities, people have revolted and adjacent businesses demanded that reverse angle parking be removed. However, in this location, is seems to be working just fine.

Caputo's

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People wonder what it is that creates a sense of place. This place has "it".  With fresh, gourmet sandwiches, salads and pasta, I always walk away full and smiling after lunch. They also have a wide variety of imported and local specialty foods, and even have their own cheese cave so they control the temperature and humidity of their cheeses as they age. 

However, Caputo's is so much more than a restaurant or specialty foods store. It is the anchor to a perfect example of what an urban, mixed-use development should be. There are three smaller restaurants in the same plaza, office space upstairs, and condos next door with a bike shop underneath. This area feels old and fresh at the same time. Perhaps the freshness comes from the flowers, the fun music in the background, or seeing Tony Caputo himself out busing tables and chatting with customers. 

Check out the yellow sign in this picture. It says, "Caution: Large trucks might block parking lot at any time. Park at your own risk." 

This setup flies in the face of typical site plans, where the trucks pull in from behind, and are out of site, out of mind. I love this set up of having the trucks pull in the front. I love that you get to see workers unloading pallets of food off of their trucks in the morning. It makes this place seem genuine. Good urban development is about compromise. It's about setting things up to create a great experience for people, and working to make the truck and auto traffic work around that premise- not the other way around. Caputo's is proof that it works

Gilgal Garden

I'm surprised at how many people that have lived in the Salt Lake area their entire lives have never heard of or been to the Gilgal Garden. I had heard rumors of it as a kid, and finally went there about 10 years ago. Created in the mid 1900s by Thomas Battersby Child, Jr, it's one of the most unique yet quintessential Utah places you'll visit. Where else will you find a rock sculpture of a sphinx with the face of Joseph Smith?   

When I first heard of this, I figured that this must have been meant as a mockery of the LDS Church. However, upon closer inspection, one will find that Child used this garden as an expression of his deep faith in the Church and what it stands for. 

 

Well worth a visit. It's open daily, and has free admission. It;s located at 749 East 500 South. Learn more at the following website: http://www.gilgalgarden.org/

Homes of Harvard-Yale

These are the type of homes that the New Urbanists are trying to replicate in places like Celebration, the Kentlands, and Daybreak. 

Quite a variety: new, old, big, not as big, Colonial, Cape Cod, a touch of Victorian. These homes all share common characteristics of being made in classic styles of timeless materials. You'll find bigger homes elsewhere in the valley in Draper, South Jordan and Holladay, but bigger (homes or lots) doesn't necessarily mean better. 

The Harvard-Yale area shows that you don't need 1/2 acre lots and snobbish  minimum-square-footage requirements to create a prestigious, upscale neighborhood. Good location and design is much more important and lasting.

Pocket Park

It has been said that the Harvard-Yale area is a walkable neighborhood with nowhere to walk to. This is because of the lack of retail or other businesses mixed in. Unlike the southern portion of Sugarhouse, or the Avenues, this is almost exclusively a residential neighborhood.

That said, there is one spot that folks regularly walk to: Laird Park.

 

This could be referred to as a pocket park. It fits in nicely into the neighborhood, with a playground, mature shade trees, and just enough room to play a pick-up game of football. The nice thing about pocket parks is that it is easier to intersperse them throughout a neighborhood, which encourages people to walk there.

Harvard-Yale Neighborhood

The Harvard-Yale area is one of the more prestigious neighborhoods in Salt Lake City. Most of the streets have Ivy League names, hence the Harvard-Yale title. You can walk to the U of U from here, and you're a 5 minute drive from downtown or Sugarhouse. What really sets this neighborhood apart are the gorgeous historic homes. They're not all mansions; this neighborhood has it's share of smaller, single-story homes. However, even the smaller homes are well-built and well-maintained. 

This Old (Sugar) House

Sugarhouse was recently listed by This Old House as one of the best old neighborhoods. While home values have plummeted elsewhere, homes in this area are still selling for top dollar. Why? I'll tell you:

There's a grid of narrow, well connected, tree-lined streets that disperse traffic, and improve walkablity compared to the now typical pattern of cul-de-sacs that dump all of their traffic onto a handful of wide streets, and make it a nightmare to walk anywhere.

It's 10 minutes from downtown, 15 minutes from Park City and the mountains, within walking or biking distance of its own commercial center, across the street from one of the largest parks in the City (more on that later), and lastly, it's full of a variety of sizes and styles of beautiful homes and cottages:

People move here because of the fabulous location, and then invest in their homes and yards. It's hard to believe that 20-30 years ago, this neighborhood was looked down on as run down and full of homes that are too small. The only downside to the increasing desirability of the area is that what once were starter homes are now out of the price range for many younger couples who are just starting out.