OK, OK, I know — of course we need on street parking, particularly in place where there is no alternative. However, there are many places where parking is readily available, so…
Take my neighborhood. Every house has a driveway and a garage. 90% of the garages don’t hold cars, they hold virtually everything else. So the cars that would have been in those garages are on the street. If, however, there was a limit on for on street parking, 3 or 4 hours for visitors, people would be forced to find alternatives, like cleaning out their garages or using their driveways. A lot of the vehicular clutter in the neighborhood would go away.
What about neighborhoods had have on street permits? I have a friend that lives in such an area. If you don’t have a permit you can’t park. Fair enough. But how many permits are issued? My friend lives in a building where her apartment has two spaces allocated in the garage for her car. She also has a permit on her car. So if she likes, she can park on street.
There are I think some apartments in the area with limited parking. I can see issuing folks in those buildings permits. Visitors are required to get a hangtag from their hosts and put it up on their car. (The host must apply for it in advance. No drop ins in that neighborhood).
The reason for the on street permits is the huge shopping center nearby which charges its employees to park. Naturally they spill over into the neighborhoods and the on street permit program ensures that residents have a place to park. But what if they didn’t?
Houses in the neighborhood all have driveways and garages. Most of the apartments have off street parking. A limit plus limited permits would handle the problem.
I know I know — shopping center employees would come over every three hours and move their cars… There is always some fatal flaw.
This blog may seem silly, but there are cities that don’t allow overnight parking on street. If you are staying overnight, you have to make other arrangements. Once people get used to making arrangements in lieu of long term on street parking, apparently they do.
And the streets become broad avenues with plenty of room for traffic, much less blockage with people attempting to park, and the streetscape becomes eye candy.
My plan would require strict enforcement of on street parking. Citation revenue would skyrocket – well maybe not but there would be revenue. And a lot of the clutter would be gone.
Go ahead, punch it full of holes, make my day!
JVH
