 
Royce
Member
Username: Royce
Post Number: 2321
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 2:15 am: |    |
There is no parking allowed on either side of Clairmount Avenue. I find this strange considering that other streets that have a lot of traffic at least have parking on one side of the street. Very few homes have driveways and many residents have parked their cars in vacant lots where homes used to be. It is not until you get west of the Lodge freeway that you see some driveways. In some cases these driveways are just the walkways between two houses because none of them lead to a garage.
Does anyone find it strange that a street like this would not have any parking? Where do visitors park on holidays? Has it always been this way? What's the story? |
Mikem
Member
Username: Mikem
Post Number: 3400
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 10:56 am: | |
I live on a street with no parking 9am-6pm and I love it; no ugly cars to spoil the view. It makes the street look clean and enhances the value of the neighborhood. We all have driveways so visitor parking during those hours isn't a problem. If you're having a party, you call the police to let them know and they won't ticket anyone. The day they change it is the day I'm putting my house up for sale. |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 1299
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 11:03 am: | |
On my street, nobody can park on my side of the street. Everywhere else in the neighborhood you can park on both. I believe it has to do with the proximity to a school and the need for a emergency vehicle route or something. Either way, I love it.
And to support Mikem on the party thing, yes they will let you cover the no-parking signs for special events if you call ahead. |
Danindc
Member
Username: Danindc
Post Number: 2907
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 11:06 am: | |
Selling the house if they allow street parking? A bit fickle, are ya? I should go warn the residents of Georgetown that their property values are being lowered by all of that ridiculous on-street parking.
That's bizarre to not allow any parking on that particular street. I wonder if it's some type of vestigial regulation.
(Message edited by DaninDC on July 25, 2007) |
Chris_rohn
Member
Username: Chris_rohn
Post Number: 301
Registered: 04-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 11:26 am: | |
Is there an alley or was it abandoned? |
Neilr
Member
Username: Neilr
Post Number: 546
Registered: 06-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 2:55 pm: | |
For many years, I lived on the street just north of Clairmount. When I moved there, there were three vacant apartment buildings on Clairmount behind my house. My guess is that one of the factors in their abandonment was the lack of parking. Eventually, they were torn down which created the large vacant lots Royce refered to.
I did not have a driveway, so I accessed my garage through the alley. None of the neighbors on my street used the alley for anything more than putting out the trash. My neighbors on Clairmount, if they drove, used the alley. For the most part, their garages, being wooden, were long gone and so they parked on the remaining concrete slabs behind their houses. Since our alley was so well-used by the folks on Clairmount, tracks were always beaten down promptly after winer snow storms. All I had to shovel was the approach to my garage door. |
Dougw
Member
Username: Dougw
Post Number: 1822
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 3:30 pm: | |
quote:I live on a street with no parking 9am-6pm and I love it; no ugly cars to spoil the view.
In a suburban-style neighborhood where everyone has 2-car-wide driveways, this policy is reasonable. In an urban neighborhood with no driveways, it's ridiculous. Well, there are the alleys, but there should be some place for visitors to park, too.
Also IMO, cars parked in empty lots is a lot worse in terms of ugliness than cars parked on the street. Cars parked on the street also provide other benefits such as slowing down street traffic and providing a buffer between pedestrians and traffic. (Which again applies more to urban neighborhoods than suburban.) |
Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw
Post Number: 3350
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 4:35 pm: | |
Dougw, I mostly agree.
Good point about the "buffer," although I think of this mainly in terms of retail areas on main streets.
Regarding parking in residential areas, this is why so many urban areas have one way streets. You can have parking on one, or maybe two sides, of the street, but people driving through can get through easier without having to make way for oncoming traffic. Parts of my hometown street in Grosse Pointe have parking on both sides, and when two cars are parked across from each other, you have effectively one lane, so with it being a 2-way street, you are always waiting/pulling behind parked cars to let other people through. It was really stupid, although everyone on my block silently agreed not to park in the street. I don't know why anyone around there did, everyone had long driveways and garages.
Yes, a street looks much better without cars on it. Ann St. between State and Division in Ann Arbor is one of my favorite residential streetscapes of all time, and it has no parking. The road is basically the same path and width as it was in 1900. Just wide enough for a lane of one-way traffic. While the homes are close-together, most have small driveways to provide access to small rear lots. In a higher density environment with row houses or homes w/o driveways, it is unreasonable to expect no on-street parking, no matter how ideal it may look. The only exceptions would be if it is a residential neighborhood within blocks of the CBD-- a lot of Old City colonial-era neighborhoods the wrap around the east and south sides of Philadelphia's CBD come to mind hear, same with plenty of Manhattan neighborhoods. Another exception would be if there is good alley access to a garage off the alley, but a garage with more than one space is rare in a high-density neighborhood, so where do cars of visitors stay (or cars of other renters who share a house and each need a car?).
So, a street without cars is ideal, but not often feasible. The best way to deal with it is to have one-way streets. |
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 4945
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 - 11:55 pm: | |
Dan, Georgetown also has a University, as well as lots of shops and bars. Even with on street parking, finding a spot is difficult.
Georgetown is my favorite part of DC! Reminds me of Boston's Beacon Hill, where parking is nearly impossible. |
Deegee
Member
Username: Deegee
Post Number: 39
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, July 26, 2007 - 12:08 am: | |
Was Clairmount Ave, east of the Lodge,settled around the same time as early Boston Edison district? Was it made up of middle income families? Was it likely they owned cars? |
Neilr
Member
Username: Neilr
Post Number: 548
Registered: 06-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, July 26, 2007 - 9:58 am: | |
Clairmount was built up at about the same period as Boston, Chicago, Longfellow, Edison and Atkinson; but it was an entirely different subdivision and the lot sizes and types of housing were totally different. The subdivision rules on those streets to the north (except for one block of Atkinson between Woodrow Wilson and 12th) all required single family houses. There were minimum house and lot size restrictions for each sub, with those on Boston being the largest to those on Edison & Atkinson being the least (although still larger than Clairmount).
Deegee, keep in mind that the Lodge is an artificial (though impossible to ignore) divider imposed on the west side in the 1950's. From the neighborhood's beginnings, Woodward, Hamilton, 12th, and Linwood were the major divider streets between the east/west subdivisions as well as the main commercial strips.
While there are many single family houses on Clairmount, most of the housing is multiple-unit. From Woodward to Woodrow Wilson there were many mid-rise apartment buildings and four-family flats. At best, they were built with very little adjoining parking. At that time it was not so needed. From Woodrow Wilson west, most of the housing consisted of two-family flats. For these, parking and garages would be in the rear, generally with access from the alley.
Without actually driving up Clairmount, my best guess is that the most recently constructed house, from the 50's, on the street is a two family flat, just west of 12th.
Most of the two-family flats would have been owner occupied until the departure of the Jewish community, starting in the 50's.
Until the 50's, actually until the late 60's. A working class family could well live on Clairmount and not need a car at all. The area was very walkable, with many, if not most, of the major synagogues, and lots of minor ones, on Woodward, Woodrow Wilson, 14th, Linwood, and Dexter. The same for doctor and dentist offices and shopping. The best public schools in metro Detroit were there. Riding the bus was a safe and perfectly respectable way to get farther afield. At Linwood, Clairmount turns into Joy Road so there is bus access to the far west side. Many of the downtown bound routes have stops in the area. With the building of the Lodge and the Clairmount overpass and ramps, the street (along with Chicago Blvd.) has borne the brunt of crosstown traffic in the area.
High-end 2 family flats were not built on Clairmount at all. It was never that type of street. That quality of housing (all owner occupied at the time and to some extent today) was built on Calvert and Virginia Park and other streets south of Clairmount as far as Grand Blvd. such as, Euclid, Hazelwood, and Lothrop. Lothrop has some large flats with deep setbacks that seem to be much older than the norm with a number still owner occupied.
Sadly, to me, for the most part, people who have housing options, do not choose to move onto Clairmount now. |
Deegee
Member
Username: Deegee
Post Number: 40
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, July 26, 2007 - 6:14 pm: | |
Thanks Neilr. That was interesting information that I probably wouldn't find in a book. |
Chub
Member
Username: Chub
Post Number: 478
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, July 26, 2007 - 6:30 pm: | |
My previous house at 1121 Atkinson backed up to Clairmount and the beautiful FoodLand liquor store which is located at the corner of Clairmount and the Southbound Lodge service drive. Most if not all of the houses and apartments on the North side of Clairmount had their own garages. Most have now burned down or are falling down. Access is from the alley. PS. I don't miss living behind the liquor store. |
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