Every new and existing policy should be revisited to make sure that we are incentivizing development that is in keeping with the goals we have set forth as a city. Which ostensibly, at least as it relates downtown, include adding housing, creating an active streetlife, making the urban fabric pedestrian-friendly, and spurring urban retail.

Our design guidelines, property taxes, and BID assessment are all executed in a way that does little to spur this type of development, but instead makes surface parking overly financially advantageous.

It is no surprise that instead of getting what we say we want – we just get more surface parking.