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Neighborhoods Mon Mar 01 2010
How to End Cheap Parking
Should government planning policies be aimed at slowly phasing out cheap parking, to force cities to plan for efficiency and redundantly, and drive up demand for public transportation to ensure its continued expansion? Here's what one California legislator is trying to do (via GOOD):
California state senator Alan Lowenthal has stirred up a nest of
idiotshornets with his Senate Bill 518. Lowenthal, recognizing that providing lots of subsidized parking is only enabling our addiction to cars, has introduced legislation that would incentivize cities to start reforming their parking rules.His legislation would work like this: There's a buffet of different parking reforms, and each is worth a different number of points. A city can choose whichever reforms it wants to enact and if their points total reaches 20, it gets an edge in getting state funding. The reforms are wide-ranging. A city could, for example, install parking meters in high-demand areas (five points), raise parking meter rates to reflect market prices (10 points), or entirely scrap the requirements that new residential buildings come with a minimum number of parking spaces (20 points). You can see all the reforms and their point values here.
Chris / March 1, 2010 1:03 PM
Great find! This type of regulation would be great for any urban area. It wouldn't remove cars from the cities, but it would encourage car-pooling and use of public transportation. I am very much in favor of the requirement that all employers be required to provide transit passes, on a monthly basis to all employees pre-tax. Employees could opt-out of using the pass.
Of course what SHOULD happen rarely does.