OUR CHANGING CITY

Downtown parking problems a ‘false narrative’

Patrick Anderson
panderson@argusleader.com
An outline of the Empire Mall and parking lot over downtown Sioux Falls

Parking in downtown Sioux Falls might not be the headache people think it is, according to a nifty little map from the head of a local advocacy group.

Made by urban designer Joe Batcheller, the map places an outline of the Empire Mall and its sprawling parking lot over downtown. A red line indicates how far people are willing to hoof-it when they park at the mall.

“I think that excuse, that you have to walk so far downtown to get to where you’re going,” Batcheller said. “I think that’s a false narrative.”

Batcheller heads Downtown Sioux Falls Inc., a private group that advocates for downtown businesses. He made the map with Google Maps and Adobe, matching elevations so the outline of the mall would be consistent with downtown.

“I was really just kind of messing around doing it,” Batcheller said.

His handiwork appeared online as part of a Facebook post from local artist Zach DeBoer, who lamented a perceived lack of parking downtown. City officials are planning to spend millions of dollars on mixed-use parking ramp downtown.

Here’s DeBoer’s original post:

Click here if you can't see the post.