Getting your city or state/province to reform its parking policies requires playing the long game. Most successful advocacy campaigns are years, not months, in the making. And for 95% of that time, there is no public hearing to rally the troops or prepare testimony for. Most of the work of building power and momentum happens when no bill or ordinance has been introduced or even drafted yet.
Politics moves in seasons. You might be waiting for a new mayor to take office, for a budget to pass or other pressing priority to be resolved, or for next year’s legislative session to kick off.
If you’re in the “Off Season” right now, but have a long-term goal of major parking reforms where you live, your team shouldn’t be resting. They should be training. Here are ten things your local parking reform group can do to build the momentum you’ll need when it counts.
Gather Evidence
1. It’s easier than ever to do a parking study! Send some volunteers downtown or to your neighborhood’s main street to count parked cars and empty spaces (both on-street and off-street, and in private lots to the extent you can). Then meet up for a happy hour and discuss what you found! Here’s a helpful guide from Boston’s Metropolitan Area Planning Council on how to do a parking survey.
2. Or fly a drone and gather larger-scale data that way, then use GIS software to map it! Check out our 2025 webinar with Christopher Kao for an example of how to do this.
3. Get out and talk with local small business owners and business associations, developers, and city planners. Find out whose plan or project got derailed by existing parking regulations. Get the details of the shop or day care that didn’t open, the homes that weren’t built, because of parking mandates. If anyone is willing to talk about it on video, that is gold. (Check out this amazing video that the Dallas Urbanists and Better Block made using small-entrepreneur testimonials.)
Spread the Word
4. Start a local parking reform blog. Give it a name brand, and have at minimum an email address associated with it. It can be as simple as “[Your City’s Name Here] for Parking Reform.” Maybe the “coalition” is one or two people—for now. Shhhh. What you’re doing is lighting a flame for the moths to gather. When someone, like an eager activist or a reporter, searches for info about parking reform in your city, you want to be the one they find. (PRN’s own Tony Jordan got his start in parking reform this way, and the Portlanders for Parking Reform blog is still live! See it for yourself!)
5. Create some infographics or memes. Use local data, stories, and examples. (If you don’t have a Parking Lot Map of your downtown yet, make one!) Host a contest within your group to create the best one!
6. Host educational events in a relaxed atmosphere. Invite a guest speaker! Use the community room at a library, coffee shop, or brewery. Or take your education campaign to the streets: organize a tour of oversized and problematic parking lots, and other places where bad parking policy is messing up your town, and invite media and decision makers! (This idea was inspired by the Toxic Tours run by PRN partner Air Alliance Houston.)
Make Connections
7. Meet with your city council rep over coffee, if you can. Learn about their priorities and feel out what they’ve heard about parking reform. Come with an anecdote or two, but don’t make a hard sell unless they’re all-in on the issue. (If they are, organize with them: find out what support they need from the grassroots.)
8. Talk to community stakeholders: neighborhood organizations, business improvement districts, and potentially allied nonprofits / activist groups. Ask for 15 minutes on the agenda at their next meeting to talk about parking reform and to solicit their ideas and observations.
Keep It Social
9. The political “Off Season” is typically summer: take advantage of nice weather! Happy hours, group bike rides, parking lot block parties.
10. Create a Park(ing) Day installation in a lot or a curb space! (Be sure to pay the meter.) Set up near a traffic-generating event like a farmer’s market. Have cookies and lemonade. (And get in touch with us if you want PRN stickers or swag!) It’s a chance to meet your community and show (don’t tell) them about the missed opportunities caused by excess parking. Learn about What Park(ing) Day is and how to participate here.
