How is Parking like a Sandwich?
Sightline is releasing a new report today—Who Pays for Parking?—documenting the hidden parking subsidies that raise the cost of housing in greater Seattle. In a nutshell, the study finds that ...
Author: SwatchJunkies
Who Pays for Parking?
How the oversupply of parking undermines housing affordability.
Author: Clark Williams-Derry
Parking Break
This is the season climax, the culmination, the big reveal. Previously on Parking? Lots!
Cities mandate off-street parking (guided only by junk science and groupthink). They do it in fear of territorial neighbors who want “their” curb spaces left alone. Our communities suffer horribly as a result. Information technology is shaking things up, though, and cities can now charge for curb spaces more easily. They can also share the proceeds with neighborhoods. Doing that breaks the vicious political circle that perpetuates parking quotas.The final step---here’s the reveal---is so simple it’s anti-climactic. (Sorry.) Once they’ve metered the curb and bought off neighborhoods, cities can just ditch parking quotas: scratch them out and turn the page.
Author: SwatchJunkies
Underground Parking
In Peggy Clifford’s neighborhood, out back of the State Capitol in Olympia, Washington, a black market thrives. Early each year during the state’s legislative session, lobbyists go there---just a hop, skip, and a jump from the capitol dome---to buy what they crave: parking spaces. Peggy says, “This is a neighborhood, not a parking lot.” Tell that to regular Capitol visitors. The neighborhood may be nationally registered as historic and staunchly defended by Peggy and other concerned citizens, but it also has driveways and backyards, and to some residents, the offer of hard currency for use of that real estate is persuasive. They park their cars at the curb, protected by their resident-only permits, and rent out their private spaces to professional Capitol-goers. A lot of money changes hands.
Author: SwatchJunkies
Parking Karma
“My sister has great food karma. She finds great food, and she never pays.” If you heard someone say that, you’d just scratch your head. What could that mean? Does she dumpster dive? If you substitute the “parking” for “food,” though, it makes sense. Indeed, a friend said those exact words to me recently, so I started asking others about their parking karma. Everyone I asked knew exactly what I was talking about: no confused expressions or blank stares. Greg W. said, “I have always had spectacularly good parking karma....It's a Zen thing: I am water flowing downhill into the perfect parking place.”
Author: SwatchJunkies
When Your Parking Grows Up
On-street parking takes up a lot of space in North American cities: 5 to 8 percent of all urban land, according to UCLA urban planning professor Donald Shoup. If parking reforms like pricing curb spots end up reducing the need for curb parking in our cities, what will we do with all that extra space? As it turns out, Cascadian cities are already trying out some exciting new ideas. In this article, we’ll look at four things parking can grow up to become: bike corrals, international PARK(ing) Day, parklets, and café seating. In Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, this car-shaped bicycle rack creatively reminds people just how many cycles can fit in a space formerly used to park one car...
