I may have been too hard on Richard Rothblum

I mocked Cleveland Park ANC commissioner Richard Rothblum who made free parking one of his top New Year’s wishes. Over on the Cleveland Park list, the parking discussion has taken a sensible turn, as all the people who want more free parking for themselves and more restrictions for everyone else have given way to some basic economic sense, including from Richard Rothblum.

One author wrote: (I’m still leaving them anonymous out of respect for creating a safe space on the list, with the exception of elected officials whose comments should be public)

Despite reading the the numerous and interesting comments on the parking proposal, I still miss any discussion of basic economics, supply and demand. There is virtually unlimited demand for parking here and no practical way to increase supply. In a commercial situation this would lead to major price increases until supply and demand met. In this situation, with permits not legally sold, other abuses are almost certain. The hope that parking enforcement or self-regulation would deal with this problem strikes me as chimeric. Parking officials would have to examine car dashboards and would have no way of detecting forgeries/copies. … None of the proposed compromises, e.g. limited area passes, avoids these problems.

I do not question the real difficulties which exist for some residents who do not have their own parking facilities and yet seek home assistance. However, they, like everyone else, knew of the parking situation when they moved here. The remedy for a few would be a major nuisance for most Cleveland Park residents, and I hope it is quickly shelved.

To which Richard Rothblum replied:

[P.L.]‘s comment about lack of economic considerations in the RPP proposals is correct. Ultimately, people will have to pay a market price for parking places or suffer shortages. The visitor parking proposal will alleviate the problem of underutilization of daytime parking in certain neighborhoods, but will only exacerbate shortages in other areas.

If there really is excess street parking in an area at a certain time, it’s appropriate to let people park for free. After all, Shoup says we should price parking at the appropriate level to ensure at least 15% availability (about the right amount to keep one space on most blocks, so people don’t have to cruise for parking). If the availability is 15% or more when the price is zero, then zero is the right price.

Advocates of parking demand management are sometimes accused of “wanting to take away everyone’s parking”. This is almost the opposite of the truth: Shoupistas, as they are sometimes affectionately known, actually want to make parking easier, by ensuring that there are spaces available for those who need them, but without spending millions on huge new garages. Since parking demand is elastic, all we have to do is use basic economics—pricing—to equalize the demand with the supply.