As expected, Freeman Park plan includes parking for Petrovich multiplex

Exhibit B of the city's plan to provide parking for Petrovich's multiplex at Freeman Park.

City's "pedestrian-friendly" philosophy for downtown questioned

From the Woodland Record:

As foretold in several Woodland Record articles (including "Public beware! Subsidies for Petrovich/Corkill will come in many forms," and "Yolo Sun recap of Freeman Park meeting missing city's intent for multiplex parking; closed sessions start tonight after recess") the City of Woodland "community" (re)development staff will propose two Freeman Park plans that provide parking for the Paul Petrovich multiplex project at Fourth and Main.

The Freeman Park project proposal is neatly folded into both the "Water Well Construction Project" (a city subsidy for the courthouse) and the "Main Street Beautification Project" (a partnership between Petrovich and the City of Woodland funded by a SACOG* grant) to diffuse attention. The city-provided parking, adjacent to Maria's Cantina (a business owned by another Redevelopment Agency beneficiary), is presented as only serving the proposed farmers market facilities in the park.

The Freeman Park proposal was part of the hasty $4.8 million RDA give-away last June. But this project was different than the others, it was proposed by staff as requiring only $50,000 for the task of conceptualizing a farmers market facility. The RDA (city council) mysteriously bumped the allocation for the project up to an approved amount of $350,000. Why did the RDA approve 700% of the proposed resolution? Because the intent of this farmers market facility is to build a parking lot that will be used one day out of each summer week by the market and will be used seven evenings a week throughout the year by the multiplex that will be a half block away. Multiplex users will park in Freeman Park and access the theater through an improved Dead Cat Alley passage.

Read more at WoodlandRecord.com