Vicenza trying to free up more parking spots

[unhappycamper]

Vicenza trying to free up more parking spots
By Kent Harris, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, February 1, 2009

VICENZA, Italy — Longtime residents might be able to remember a time when parking wasn’t an issue at Caserma Ederle. But that certainly hasn’t been the case this century.

David Murr, director of public works on base, summed up the issue during a monthly Info-X meeting Wednesday, calling parking — or a lack of it — "one of the favorite subjects here on the caserma."

The issue doesn’t seem as pressing when members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team are deployed. But with everyone back on base, there aren’t enough parking spaces to go around during peak hours. Statistics show about 7,000 vehicles registered on base and roughly 2,800 parking spaces.

There’s hope on the horizon, with plans to transfer elements of the 173rd to the Dal Molin airfield. But construction on facilities hasn’t started there and isn’t expected to be completed until 2012. An ambitious plan to add several multistory parking garages and transform much of the base into a pedestrian zone still needs funding and various approvals. And it wouldn’t happen for at least a decade anyway.

Murr said four different sets of regulations — Army, U.S. Army Europe, Installation Management Command, and Southern European Task Force — address parking issues, making it somewhat difficult to navigate.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60398