This article about a family in Oakland that has been targeted for parking their RV on street along with three other vehicles brings a solution to mind. Why not charge for parking on residential streets.
OK — give each homeowner one permit, and after that, require that they either pay for the privileged to get an additional permit (say at $100 a month or so, or they can pay $5 a day.) Install a P and D or pay by cell operation for the visitors.. And why not?
The money could go into a kitty and pay for repaving the streets, new sidewalks, tree trimming and the like.
Its just not reasonable that people who have garages and driveways park their vehicles on street and clutter up the place. Most zoning required a garage because the city wants folks to park off the street. My plan would motivate them to clean out their garages and put their cars away each night.
There’s a fellow just down the street from us who has four cars (one junque covered with a tarp in his driveway, a standard town and country van, a white ford van, and a monster commercial van with an extended top (so you can stand up in the back). They all park on the street. It looks horrible, and frankly there is no need for it. He could move his junk car back and use his garage for two of his vehicles — of course he is using his garage for commercial purposes so he can’t do that.
No one wants to complain because he and his wife are "real nice people" but frankly our neighborhood is looking a bit like tobacco road because of him, and a few others.
I just feel that people need to understand, like the comment in the "crisis" post below, that parking is not FREE. OK, you can have one permit — give it to your friends when they come to park. Or use it to park one of your cars on the street. For other cars, or visitors, pay.
Can anyone give me a good reason why not?
Oh, this would solve the problems of the motorhome above because you could charge double for it since it took two spaces. Those folks would be paying $500 a month for all their vehicles. . My guess is that they would solve the problem instantly.
There is a fellow in our neighborhood who has at least count six vehicles including a monster motor home and a boat. He parks them all off street in his driveway. Admittedly it looks a bit crowded but I’m certain he can get to what he needs to drive when he needs it. He sets a great example.
JVH
