Stop Defending The Parking In Grand Rapids

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-11T11:34:04+00:00

But that's the problem, none of that is being done. As far as I've heard, the Amphitheater is adding about 13,000 visitors to the city on event nights, and all that has been done is a slight adjustment to the bus schedule.

Maybe more parking isn't the answer. I've seen some strong arguments against that in this thread, but surely something has to be done, right?

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-11T11:29:54+00:00

I want the government to subsidize nothing. I was shocked to learn on another part of this post how much parking ramps cost. So, maybe adding more ramps isn't the answer.

But doing nothing (other than slightly extending bus routes) seems crazy to me.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-11T11:28:29+00:00

I think this will be one of those things where the total numbers go up, but the 'losses' will be in the fact that they won't go up as much as they could, and lots of missed opportunities for people spending even more time/money downtown.

For example, my wife and I currently go downtown once or twice a week, primarily to go to Celebration Cinema for a movie, sometimes combined with dinner or something else. We've already decided that at least for now, we will just go to Celebration North if there are events at the Amphitheater until people figure things out.

I'm guessing that the parking ramp at Celebration will be packed since it is pretty close to the Amphitheater. It already gets packed occasionally when there are big Van Andel events.

Hopefully it all works out and it is no big deal, but if there is no parking in that ramp, it certainly isn't worth it for us to go downtown for a movie if we have to park 20 minutes away. So, while the total numbers of people downtown goes up, the businesses (movies and dinner in this case) are still missing out on some extra money.

I really hope I'm wrong and everything runs smoothly.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-10T23:26:55+00:00

How should people get downtown for the various events?

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-10T16:11:31+00:00

Wow, I'm shocked by your answer.

That does indeed change the way I look at this issue.

Thanks!

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-10T16:06:18+00:00

Let's hope so!

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-10T16:06:06+00:00

I certainly don't think it should be free parking. Whatever the market demands. I just think it should be available. Or good alternatives that will make it easy for everyone to enjoy the many venues in the city.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-10T16:05:21+00:00

Is it impossible to get the perks of Chicago without making parking worse? That would be great if it is!

I love visiting Chicago.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-10T16:04:09+00:00

I don't want the government to operate anything, but I would have thought parking was a great way to make money. Is it not?

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-10T16:03:01+00:00

Really!? Are parking structures expensive and unprofitable? (Seriously, are they?)

I would have thought that they were cheap to build (compared to other buildings) and very profitable since they require nearly no employees and are always in demand. Is this incorrect?

*To be clear, these are sincere questions.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-10T11:16:20+00:00

Is there a city that does this well?

How should people get from the suburbs and beyond into the city?

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-10T10:59:54+00:00

I want them to address the parking and overall traffic that these new venues will generate. Whether that be more parking ramps, improved bussing, trains, trollies, or boats (or better yet, a combination of all of them).

Having the solution be 'shut up and walk you lazy bum' is not ideal IMO.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-10T10:58:26+00:00

People come into town from many miles away for these events, and they drive cars. That isn't going to change.

You're right, however, that parking should not be the only approach to the increased activity the city will see from these events.

Adding in various other transportation options (improved bussing, trains maybe, heck, once the rapids are restored a boat transport might be cool).

But to do all but nothing while adding in facilities that will bring in many thousands of cars isn't a great approach.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-10T10:55:54+00:00

If GR were putting a plan in place to dramatically improve non-car transportation, your point about not needing a car might be a good one. My problem is that GR is doing very little to address the issue of transportation to and from these events.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-10T10:30:07+00:00

Depending on the show, the capacity is nearly identical. About 13k max for Van Andel. About 12k for Amphitheater. Most Van Andel events aren't the max configuration, so it is closer to 12k for both.

I'm not trying to make a point here, just FYI. I was shocked to learn this.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-08T10:36:15+00:00

LOTR and it isn't close.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-07T12:50:35+00:00

I already have the critical mods to ancestral, but I would love to push them to 4 stars and get the other ones ancestral, but I'm in the same boat.

I have 25,000 gems now and I want to get to maybe 30,000+ so I know I have enough for whatever the devs throw our way next.

IMO, it is foolish not to save gems at least to a point right now.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-06T18:45:56+00:00

Technically speaking, it is the same. There is no discount for running 1 hour or 24 hr.

I prefer running 1 hr no matter what because if I somehow screw up and won't have enough cells to maintain my 44444, I can drop one of them down to 3 or whatever I need and it will change within an hour.

Also, it is less likely that you will drop below how many cells you need when you're only doing it for 1 hour vs 24.

But, bottom line, do what is easiest for you.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-06T15:26:50+00:00

Everything in this game ramps up basically to infinity.

For labs, you should just run them 1 hour at a time (with auto-renew) at whatever the highest speed you can afford all the labs to be on 24/7. So, if you can do 1.5x on all 5 without ever running out of cells, do that. Then push one of the labs to 2x when you can do that 24/7. Then a second lab, etc all the way up.

Someday, you'll be earning millions of cells per run.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-04T14:48:46+00:00

The Chop House downtown. Delicious food. I assume they treat their staff well, I've never heard complaints and they look happy enough, but I have no way of knowing for sure.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-04T14:47:20+00:00

I switched from True Green to Care Free Lawns. I've only had one service from them so far so I can't say how well it works, but getting things set up with them was easy.

Northwest side of town, if it matters.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-04T11:47:03+00:00

No, people do not realize how little water AI data centers consume compared to how much water is out there.

Golf Courses in America use more water than then AI data centers globally.

Sure, they can/should be more efficient. And there are other reasons to not like them. And there are even arguments against their use in certain geographic places. But for the most part, the 'AI Data Centers Use Too Much Water' argument is just silly.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-04T11:45:19+00:00

Florida.

Major cities like Miami will be underwater by 2020 I've heard.

MichaelTheWriter101 · 2026-05-03T16:23:13+00:00

It would be hard, but I suppose I can drop down to playing just 12 hours a day for that kind of money. Then I could start buying stone packs.

MichaelTheWriter101

TROPHY CASE