No matter where it's built, parking for the new Reds ballpark will cost Hamilton County millions of dollars. The question is where the parking is most likely to be used when the stadium is not in use.

BROADWAY COMMONS		BASEBALL ON MAIN
Broadway backers argue the county could build parking for the Bengals, using garages and some parking lots, build a 1,500-car garage at Broadway and pave 1,100 new surface spaces at Broadway and save nearly $24 million over the riverfront parking plan. But that plan does not provide as much parking for the Crown, which the county must provide under an existing lease. Broadway spaces would be used by county and office workers during the day. Proponents point to the Procter & Gamble Co. headquarters and county offices as likely users. But riverfront backers - who acknowledge riverfront parking would have to be subsidized - argue Broadway parking is farther removed from downtown's core and wouldn't be used as much. So they say the county would pay greater subsidies at Broadway, a claim Broadway backers dispute.		Parking plans being reviewed by the county call for building 8,500 riverfront spaces in garages between the Reds ballpark and the new Bengals stadium, with a possible garage east of the Crown and some parking lots closer to the football stadium. The garages would cost roughly $88 million to build. The parking also would serve as a platform for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and other developments to lift the buildings out of the flood plain. Proponents argue the parking would be more convenient for downtown workers than existing riverfront parking and that having so much riverfront parking will help make downtown office space more competitive with the suburbs. Parking would not pay for itself. The county's current financial models assume officials will pay cash - using built-up sales tax revenues or state funds - for construction costs parking revenues won't cover. Current estimates peg that gap at anywhere from $60 million to $70 million. Broadway backers argue parking there could probably pay for itself, but they haven't released a detailed financial analysis. Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus argues the county can't split its resources by building garages for the Bengals on the riverfront and for a ballpark at Broadway. Without a riverfront ballpark, he says, the county likely would opt for parking lots for the Bengals, consuming land needed for parks. Broadway backers say he is bluffing. Riverfront proponents argue their parking would be cheaper and more convenient for fans because more spaces would be closer to the stadium. Broadway backers question whether there is a need for the extra 3,000 spaces the riverfront garages would create.

CONTEXT: A study commissioned by Cincinnati and Hamilton County two years ago concluded there was adequate parking within a half-mile radius of both sites, assuming a new 3,000-car garage is built at either site and that parking operators around Broadway will commit at least 6,000 spaces to baseball when the stadium is in use.

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