Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Parking at City Creek

I just heard this.  Restaurants at the new City Creek Mall cannot validate parking if they serve wine or beer!  Perhaps this needs some confirmation, but it appears another oddity in our odd SLC culture.  I suspect it has something to do with prevent drunk driving (or that's the excuse), but if you have a designated driver?

So, we have poor to none bus service to Downtown, the meters are expensive well into the evening, and we can't get parking validation...   what a way to enjoy Downtown.  It's easier to enjoy an evening in Downtown SLC if you live in the South Valley.  Drive to the Park & Ride, hop on TRAX, head Downtown for the evening, and return.  Can't do that from the Aves and CapHill.


Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Suggestions for UTA

A few of us from the Greater Avenues Community Council have informally discussed changes that would improve UTA service to the Avenues.  These suggestions are the result of responses from the community through an email poll.

Suggested UTA Changes

1.  Reroute the 3rd Ave and 6th Ave buses back downtown (2nd South), then loop them to the Guadalupe Station (Viaduct).  This restores downtown service to the Aves.

2.  The weekday 11th Ave bus must cross 11th Ave well before 8:00am, since the current morning bus does commuters no good (they can't get to work on time).

3.  Expand night service and weekend service to the Aves.  Restore the Saturday 11th Ave bus and possibly provide shuttle service at night to the Aves (similar to the Southwest Valley).

a. If restoring 11 bus service on the weekends is not possible, combine parts of the 11 bus route into the weekend 6 bus route.  Since the 6 runs only once per hour on Saturday (and should on Sunday as well), it should be possible for the 6 to go up to at least 11th Ave. and possibly to 13th Ave., while still making important stops at LDS Hospital and the Avenues Smiths (6th Ave & E St.).

b. This combined route could be employed late on weekday evenings as well, since the last 11 bus leaves downtown (185 S. State) at 6:41 PM and the 6 bus begins a once-per-hour schedule at 6:40 PM (from N. Temple Front Runner to the Avenues).  The last bus should be at least one hour later than the current last 6 bus to the U of U Medical Center (8:40 PM).

c. The last bus leaving downtown on Saturday evenings ( #6 at 7:47 PM) is also too early. 


4.  Examine options for improved spacing of the times for the 11 and 6 buses to and from downtown to determine if this would be more efficient.  (Frequently the 6 and 11 are nose to tail en route.)

If you have any other suggestions or comments, please send them to:  avesbuses13@gmail.com or respond here on this blog.

Monday, July 29, 2013

My Candidate Info

I'm a 40 year resident of the Avenues; lower, upper, and middle.  It's a great place to live, especially since the Aves and CapHill are convenient to Downtown and the University.  However, this convenience is now compromised by City actions (those damn meters and their extended hours) and UTA route changes.  As residents of District 3, we need better representation that reflects our needs, that makes our lives easier, not more complicated and expensive.