The movement to prioritize housing for people over storage for cars has reached a new high point in the Pacific Northwest. In the first action of this kind by any US state, Oregon’s state land use board voted unanimously last week to sharply downsize dozens of local parking mandates on duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhomes, and … Read more
For three years, Portland’s proposal to re-legalize fourplexes citywide has been overshadowing another, related reform. That other reform applies not to low-density lots but to mid-density areas: The ones currently zoned for townhomes and small to medium-size apartment buildings. It’s finally coming before Portland’s city council in a public hearing Wednesday. (The city is also … Read more
Let’s say you were the kind of kid who rooted for Darth Vader in Star Wars, for the Joker in Batman, for Magneto in the X-Men. You’re determined to be a villain—heck, a supervillain. But now, as an adult, you’re in charge not of a legion of stormtroopers or a criminal syndicate. Instead, you somehow … Read more
The people planning the Portland area’s next light-rail line seem to be steering away from a scenario where taxpayers waste $100 million of precious public-transit funding on a series of giant parking garages. But unless the public speaks up in the next month, it’s possible that a handful of elected officials will push to build … Read more
Deep in the bowels of the Republican tax reform that took effect in the United States last year, its late-night authors buried a secret. The bill, as written, made one of the nation’s most economically and environmentally destructive fringe benefits—a free parking space for anyone who drives to work—21 percent more expensive for any private … Read more
Almost every good idea, from sandwiches to light bulbs to bike lanes, follows a similar upward-twisting curve of rising popularity. First, in a trickle, comes its introduction by a few radicals. Then come the early adopters, the ones who know a good idea when they see it even though it’s off-the-wall. They’re a little more … Read more
The big, hard-fought housing ballot issue that Portland-area voters approved this month set aside 10 percent of its revenue—$65 million—specifically for low-income-affordable housing near transit lines. But as the same regional government draws up plans for the region’s next light-rail line, it’s also been quietly preparing to give the rest of the Pacific Northwest an … Read more
We’re going to call it: No city in the Northwest, and few cities in North America, are doing parking policy better than Portland. With a unanimous vote last week, its city council dropped two crucial pieces into place. First, they agreed to adjust parking-meter prices up or down each year based on the number of … Read more
Every time someone parks a car on the street outside Steven Lien’s downtown Portland shop, an invisible clock inside his business plan starts to tick. If they’re stopping by his men’s underwear store, of course, he’s happy. If they’re not, he’s eager for the minute they’ll finish their errand, get back in their car and … Read more
When we at Sightline talk about the opportunity to end hidden subsidies for parking that drive up the cost of everything else in our economy, it can be hard to know how much it all matters. It’s a parking space, Michael. What could it cost? A new report published last week by the Research Institute … Read more
