On May 6, a Style Weekly article addressed an issue that plagues many cities.  The problem is parking.  The dense nature of cities and our reliance on the automobile is the cause of this problem.  In the article John Sanchez a Puerto Rican native who wishes to open a restaurant in Church Hill is struggling with the issue of parking.  Richmond city code requires that you must provide a parking space for every 100 sq. ft.  of building space to open a new restaurant.  Sanchez has scoured the proximate area for this space and has had difficulty acquiring it.  The city offered has offered to lease him parking in a nearby parking lot, but zoning officials claimed this was against the zoning policy of this lot and declined it.  For a city and downtown area that is wishing to revitalize this seems counterproductive.  Shouldn’t the city be bending over backwards to bring people downtown without relying on an entrepreneurial restaurant owner who will bring interest and taxes to the city.  Not that the city should be devoting all their time to increasing automobile access to the city, on the contrary I think a system of light rail to bring people from outer areas into the city where they are able to rent or be driven by cab drivers in eco-friendly vehicles would be great.  Richmond has some scattered ground level parking on previously empty lots and multi-level parking structures  mostly offered by large private institutions.  While it provides necessary parking there is a problem within, why are there empty lots downtown?  Some of these lots have come in place of demolished older structures.  In an economically thriving downtown the market should demand more than this.  Parking could be made available at the street level with offices or other structure above or some parking and some street front retail on the first floor so as not to make a dead street front.  My preference would be to look past the immediate economic cost and to take parking underground.  Parking will continue to plague Richmond until the transportation issue is addressed, but it should be the responsibility of the city not small business owners.