Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Maybe Make That A Bit More Expensive?

In order to preserve their right to essentially free parking, current residents want new residents to shell out $10-$20K or more for a private parking space.
On the contrary: several neighbors did complain about the likely impact of this project on the neighborhood’s parking situation. One resident, referring to residents of another new development nearby, said, “Nobody has one car any more, they have two cars.” When this development is finished, she said, “it’s gonna be overrun with cars. There’s no plan for dealing with them, and the neighborhood is gonna be overrun with cars, and it’ll destroy the character of the community.”

No it won't "destroy the character of the community." It might make it a bit harder to find a parking spot.

What drives me nuts about parking-over-everything people is so often they get it wrong. They support curb cuts, which convert one public space into one private one. They demand new residents buy parking spots, ensuring that those new residents will be car owners, likely owning more than one.

But walk around Philly neighborhood and you'll find plenty of long term parkers. Cars which just sit there, almost if not completely unused. It currently costs $35/year to store your first car, $50/year for the second one, and $75/year for the third. That's new. Until this year, every car cost $35 for the initial permit and then $20/year for the renewal. $100/year for five cars. There's space on the street on most blocks for one car/home.

I don't think parking fees should be extremely punitive. I'm fine with that first car in a household being pretty cheap. But parking is a scarce resource in some neighborhoods, and it is way underpriced. It's so cheap that there's no disincentive for owning multiple cars. That's the parking problem.