One of my all-time favorite quotes comes from noted American philosopher, Lawrence Berra. You might recognize him better as Yogi Berra, the Hall of Famer. Berra once quipped, “It’s déjà vu all over again”. While this quote can and has taken on many meanings over the years it was perfect for what happened in Brunswick this past week.

The town of Brunswick has always had a passionate love affair with studies. They study traffic. They study crime. They study whether we need a new school. They study everything. And those studies do not come cheap either.

So last week the Town Council decided to act upon request from the town’s Economic and Community Development Department to authorize a $25,000 expenditure to study whether or not there is a parking problem or a lack of parking in the downtown area. That we have to spend money to tell us what we already know seems a bit of a mistake. What makes it worse is that most of the Town Councilors acknowledged that there is a problem with parking, but hey there is a pot of money to spend so why not.

During the meeting, it was acknowledged that we had already been down this road before. Back in 2018 some of these same councilors voted to spend money on a study about, you guessed it, parking in the downtown area. The study came back from the firm that was chosen with a suggestion of building a parking garage where the current town lot is between Center Street and Bank Street. This five-story structure would hold almost 500 cars and come in at a cost of $15 million.

Thankfully, the council balked at the cost. In explaining the study and the parking garage idea, our town manager stated at the meeting that the study was really an attempt to see what could be built if Federal stimulus money came in to the town. Obviously, paying for something like this by grabbing the money from your left pocket is more palatable than paying for it by grabbing money from your right pocket.

Does the idea of a parking garage make sense? Perhaps. A garage that could fit behind the current stores and businesses on Maine Street might be worthwhile. However, at four or maybe five stories, a garage structure would tower over everything except Fort Andross at the end of Maine Street.

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I don’t think it can be disputed that there is a lack of parking on Maine Street. It may not be as apparent now during the pandemic that many businesses have cut back on hours, closed for the winter or closed altogether, but parking is an issue. Try to remember that time B.C., Before COVID, when you would have to cruise up and down Maine Street in order to go get a gelato, pizza or Indian food. Finding a spot was nearly impossible.

Brunswick likes to think of itself as a walkable downtown, but for many who do not live in the neighborhood having a walkable downtown means having somewhere to park your wheels when you get there.

One of the takeaways from the discussion with the council was the idea of looking for new “revenue streams.”  This is code for how are we going to remove some more of your money to go into the town’s piggybank. The Economic and Community Development director, in addition to some town councilors, brought up the idea of parking permits or kiosks like the ones that dot the landscape in Portland. These kiosks would charge people by the minute to park on Maine Street or any other street that the council decided was worthy of revenue enhancement. Have no fear, as the sidewalks of Maine Street are rehabbed in the coming year the infrastructure to install such parking csars will be investigated and likely installed, or so it seemed from listening to comments at the meeting.

At least some of the councilors brought up all of the new and planned for construction in the Maine Street area and how that will impact the parking issue. It was stated that there were more than 40 different projects, both commercial and residential being worked on at present or in the coming year that will add many more vehicles to the landscape, all looking for a place to park throughout the day. Where are those spots going to come from?

Little mention was given to the town council’s own role in the parking crunch. Every idea like the raised crosswalks on Maine Street has come at a cost of a few parking spots. Removing a spot here and there eventually add up and become impactful.

The craziest part of the conversation might just have been when it was acknowledged that the same firm that did the study two and a half years ago would be paid the $25,000 to conduct the new study. Wait, you were not happy with the conclusions that the firm came to and the idea of a mega-million dollar garage. So now you are giving this company another bite at the apple in hopes that they come to a different conclusion? Was there no other company in Maine that could have conducted this study?

The greatest idea from the entire meeting came from Councilor Steve Walker when he suggested that Bowdoin College be approached to partner on a solution to the parking issues. Councilor Walker and others on the council believed that college students or faculty are part of the problem when it comes to downtown parking. Perhaps the college could be the friend that they profess to be and split the costs of any potential parking solution. I doubt it, but I applaud Councilor Walker for throwing it out there.

Brunswick is enamored with the idea of spending money on studies or surveys to tell people what is painfully obvious. Will the council be as enamored with working to actually fix the problem?

Jonathan Crimmins can be contacted at j_crimmins@hotmail.com

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