I was interviewed by the Today Show based on the article in USA Today. Read the article here.
Now, a critique of the article would take about 15 minutes, they told me I had 12 seconds.
Its rather neat what they do — They call and talk to you (the reporter) then send a cameraman out and he sets up in your kitchen. Then the producer for the segment calls on the phone and asks questions and they tape your answers. Then they chop it all up and mix it around. I’m sure they will do their best to make me look presidential.
The article is about the "fact" that there’s not enough parking…and that the solution is cell phones, automated parking, GPS, parking reservations and the rest.
Of course, a confirmed Shoupista, I took umbrage with the article. The solution is the charge market rates for on street and off street parking. Then there would be plenty of parking for everyone. You can’t base needs for parking on a few days around Christmas,. but it does make a good article.
I went to Costco today. People were queued up all over the lot waiting for a place to park. I drove over to the part of the lot furtherest from the store entrance, parked in one of the almost 100 available spaces, and timed my walk to the store. Exactly 1 minute 42 seconds. No shortage of parking, its a shortage of parking next to the door.
As for the rest — the article touts automated parking – there are exactly three automated systems in the US, two running, one that will open in January, and two of the three are for apartments or condos.
Parking by cell phone = great idea — hope it catches on. but it is a method for collecting money, and that’s a good thing. Its only one of many collection tools parking pros can sue.
Reservations — a solution looking for a problem
GPS — oh please —
So there you go — no true solution offered — and there is only one…Charge market rates for all parking and the parking problems, as well as many urban blight issues, will simply go away.
I tried to tell NBC that, I hope I was persuasive.
JVH
