Parking in Banff on Banff Centre Radio

Yesterday, I was part of an Ideas Bank panel about parking in Banff.  No surprise there, except that this panel discussion was being recorded by the new Banff Centre Radio program http://www.banffcentre.ca/radio/  I was delighted to be asked and I applaud Dominic Girard, Julia Pagel, Camara Miller and the other radio staffers for working hard to create topical content that is "made in Banff and shared with the world".

Marino Dimanno, Ryan Bosinger and I, with Ideas Bank moderator Nigel Sainsbury, had a great time dissecting the history of the parking problem and kicking around the future possibilities.  Of course, we had the luxury of imagining unlimited budgets!  Should we hollow out the high school field to create underground parking covered by grass?  Build forest-covered mounds on the edges of town that conceal intercept lots?  Should we declare the town to be "full up" every now and then?  Or will the non-car culture of the present crop of 20-somethings solve the problem?  Does our future include paid parking and free transit? 

I look forward to a broader and very lively public discussion as the Town's transportation management plan ideas continue to come before Council in the next months.