Posts about Parking
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Lauriol Parking Improvement District?
I live a block from Lauriol Plaza, a Mexican restaurant popular for its large size, drinks, and outdoor and roof seating. On weekend evenings, parking is very scarce as scores of people drive to Lauriol and circle around and around the neighborhood streets in search of parking. This is a great opportunity to try creative parking policy like a Parking Improvement District. If we… Keep reading…
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Parking isn’t a good reason to move the Rockville courthouse
The Montgomery County courthouse, in the county seat of Rockville, is old and badly needs replacing. Maryland is ready to pay for a new courthouse on a downtown site formerly occupied by the library, but some people want to move it. There are good arguments for moving it and for not moving it. There are also some very bad arguments. In particular, many who advocate changing the location… Keep reading…
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Digging the parking hole deeper
The Washington area is deeply schizophrenic about whether it wants to be a city of driving and parking or of people and transit. While DC is working hard to put mixed-use high-density development next to many of its stations, plans in Foggy Bottom and West Hyattsville call for more parking than should be necessary. Whether a city is car-dependent or transit-accessible is… Keep reading…
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The passion of parking policy
A roomful of people gave two hours of their evening last night to attend a panel sponsored by the Coalition for Smarter Growth at the Downtown BID about parking policy. Many joked privately beforehand that parking is quite a boring-sounding topic to generate such fascination, including Councilmember Tommy Wells, who spoke at the beginning. He came up with the slogan of “walkable,… Keep reading…
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LA: smart move on parking, dumb move on roads
Today on Street Heat LA, the LA DOT took a knee-jerk position around moving cars smoothly at the expense of pedestrians when it insisted that the LA County Museum of Art remove a traffic light and crosswalk across Wilshire in front of its entrance and actually fill in the median to prevent people from crossing the street. On the other hand, the LA City Council is pushing for greater compliance… Keep reading…
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Three projects to watch
All over the region, consulting organizations are going through the legal requirements for Environmental Impact Statements, necessary for any major project: convening public scoping meetings, collecting input, evaluating alternatives, and so on. They’re doing this in downtown Columbia, along Rockville Pike, and on both sides of the 14th Street Bridges, used by I-395,… Keep reading…
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DC Council hearing on “Performance Parking” plan
JDLand has a summary of the hearing around Tommy Wells’ plan to use market-pricing techniques to discourage parking around the new baseball stadium. From JD’s summary, the hearing didn’t turn out to be that interesting, with most speakers in favor of the plan and little new ground covered. Keep reading…
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Monday morning links
San Francisco is considering a bill to reform parking requirements, removing the requirements forcing developers to build parking in certain types of housing developments, “unbundling” parking so condo purchasers can choose whether to pay for a parking space or not, and allowing mechanical or valet parking to save space if the building wants it. Keep reading…
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“I’m all for bike lanes but” not enough room to double park
Today’s Gridlock Sam column in the NY Daily News contains this letter that reveals the amazing absurdity of New York’s parking mess. This truck driver depends on double parking to make deliveries, but new bike lanes interfere with space for the double parking. Does he criticize the lack of loading zones? No, it’s clearly the bike lanes at fault. And rather… Keep reading…
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UFT still narrow-minded on parking
Sam Schwartz, former NYC Traffic Commissioner who reduced placard parking in the 1980s, released his ten-part recommendation for reducing placard abuse. But the UFT has other ideas, passing a resolution asking for expanded rights to park on their schools’ scarce property. Keep reading…