The City of Davis, Ca, is mulling the "High Cost of Free Parking." At a local meeting the residents mulled Don Shoup’s new book and how it might affect the downtown parking situation in the small central California community.
Don told me he wasn’t sure how much affect his writings would have in the real world. It seems that some communities at least are looking to his three basic ideas to solve their parking issues. Read about it here:
In case you forgot —
1. Drop the parking requirements from developers. Let them build as much or as little parking as they want. The parking requirement chokes off development and often creates parking that is never used.
2. Charge market rates for parking. Set on street parking rates so that 15% of the spaces are always available. Subsidized parking rates greatly change the market dynamics and move the cost of parking to other areas of the market, including higher costs for goods, services, and rents.
3. Take the money generated from parking and put it right back into the neighborhood from which it came. Clean up streets, lighting, security, sidewalks, and revitalize local businesses. Don’t let the money just disappear into the black hole of the city’s general fund. Using the money locally will get both merchants and parkers in agreement for the raising of the price of parking and setting it at market rates.
There
JVH
