Boyer Company Whines about Trax Stations

So the Deseret News reports that the plan for two TRAX stops is a problem for Gateway developers (hat tip: Transit in Utah). My first reaction was to think that maybe they had a point... but then I looked at the sketches I've seen and I've come to the conclusion that the Boyer Company can't see past the end of its nose.

First of all, the proposed stop would block a single entrance to one of the Gateway's two parking garages — and then, only for traffic coming from the South. So let's re-state this a little more clearly: the Gateway features two parking garages (each with two entrances), on-street parking, and (I believe) is working on addition parking on the North end of the development. This TRAX station would block traffic coming from the South from turning into the 400 West entrance of just one of their garages — leaving three easily accessible garage entrances untouched, and area on-street parking largely unscathed — and they're complaining.

* rolls eyes *

If they were so concerned about maximizing traffic to their development, there's plenty else to work on...

For starters: their beloved garages are called "Summer Parking" and "Winter Parking" (for their South garage and North garage, respectively) ... names that must lead at least some of their patrons to believe that the said garages are only available seasonally. They could certainly improve wayfinding (and community loyalty) by renaming their parking structures, or dropping the names altogether: cutesy names aren't worth the trouble in most cases.

But I should expect silly names from the people who named the apartments attached to their development "Northgate"... which would be fine if the apartments were confined to the North end of development — north of the structure crossing over 100 South, which looks vaguely like a gate. But no: there are two towers of "Northgate" — one to the North of the "gate" on 100 South, and one to the South of the "gate" on 100 South (which set-up leads to all sorts of confusion for people trying to find friends living there).

Which brings me to the second point: if the folks at the Boyers Company wanted to maximize traffic at their development, you'd think that they would have made it straight-forward for people living at the Gateway to actually shop at the Gateway. But they didn't. Except for an out-of-the-way and probably unintended access way from the underground apartment parking garage, I know of no way for people living at the Gateway to actually get there — except to walk around the entire development from the rear — which means hoofing it along 500 West, which is an unsavory prospect, at best.

Finally, the Boyers don't seem to understand that encouraging growth in their neighborhood necessarily means encouraging their own growth... despite the problems I have with the place, it's still nice to visit... and I walk there often. With more development in the area supported by more TRAX stations, they're bound to enjoy additional patronage.