News

Two weeks worth of news in this post! Enjoy!

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Philadelphia KOs Parking Tax Cut

Great news from the City of Brotherly Love. A proposed parking tax cut has been abandoned after a great opposition campaign lead by local reformers.

Three Great Opinions

• PRN member Ike Brannon Says D.C.’s cheap parking permits are the Achilles’ heel of the Comprehensive Plan
• Claudia Hanson Thiem: Boulder, CO’s Long-awaited parking reforms fall short
• Austin Wu: What if Iowa City devoted less space to parking cars, more for housing people?

Parking Meters & Performance Pricing

• Gas-powered sports cars, SUVs face higher street parking fees under Vancouver’s anti-pollution proposal
• Cycling advocate (and PRN member) believes downtown Penticton, BC paid parking has its purpose and its benefits
• Penticton, BC downtown pay parking evolving after feedback
• Naples, FL confirms results of less visitor parking on the beach
• Parking rates in Wilkes-Barre, PA are going to be reduced: “We’re changing it back to $1 an hour. If we get 80 percent utilization is much better than 30 percent utilization at $2 an hour,” said Mayor George Brown.
• Milwaukee takes serious hit in parking revenue during pandemic
• Record Year Expected For Myrtle Beach Parking Revenue

Costly Parking Mandates

• Death by parking: How minimum parking requirements are a drag on Dallas
• PRN member Nathaniel Barrett’s latest twitter thread on Dallas reforms.
• AB 1401 Ensures CA’s Investments in Housing and Transit Go Further
• Getting Started: Both Minneapolis and St. Paul are considering parking reform
• San Diego Parking Reforms Work for Climate and Small Biz
• Would you trade less parking for lower housing costs? California plan seeks to do just that
• What Happened When Buffalo Changed Its Parking Rules

Street Eats and Open Streets

• Who Gets the Streets Now? by PRN member Henry Grabar
• Most readers would give up parking in Boston. Here’s why.
• How New York, London and Paris Can Become ‘Car-Free Megacities’
• Miami programs target uses of curb space other than parking
• Rome’s Pandemic Recovery Sparks a Fight Between Cafes and Cars
• Copenhagen removes parking spaces in city centre trial

Cities Building More Parking Garages

• Bozeman plans to address downtown parking, transportation issues
• Jefferson City, MO parking talks continue
• City Abruptly Closes Downtown Rochester Parking Ramp
• Vancouver, BC It’s a Green City — Except for All the Parking
• Funding for Wynn Hospital Parking Garage Called into Question
• Jersey City Adopts Plan to Bring Mixed-Use Parking Facility to Central Avenue

Odds and Ends

• Cornwall parking space sells for record-breaking sum as G7 summit lures buyers
• Paying a premium for parking in Bullhead City, AZ
• It’s City vs. Delivery Vans, and the Vans Are Winning
• Why data sharing and parking enforcement are key to the EV revolution

You can support a parking reform movement. Join the network or donate today.

Parking Over Preschool in Portland

Portland, OR’s largest preschool is getting evicted over a parking squabble. It’s not the city requiring parking, this time, but the school’s landlord, a church, that wants to see cars parking instead of kids playing.

Dallas Keeps Moving Toward Reforms

Another meeting of the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee in Dallas, TX takes them a step closer to a recommendation to eliminating costly parking mandates. We hear this could make it before City Council by the end of the summer!

More news about parking minimums

• Raleigh may drop parking requirements for new development
• Many San Diego businesses would no longer have to provide parking under policy proposal
• Less, not more, is the key to Kingston’s ‘progressive’ parking plan

Philadelphia’s Parking Tax Cut

The Philadelphia Inquirer has come out against a proposed parking tax cut. Philly’s Urbanist PAC, 5th Square, is organizing more opposition.

Charlottesville Says No To New Garage

If you follow NYT Opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie you probably know that Charlottesville has been considering a multi-million dollar parking garage. Opponents of the plan carried the day and the city will build a new surface lot instead. Surface lots are just apartment buildings waiting to happen, structured parking is a 30 year commitment to more cars in your city.

New Tools for Reformers

The Urban Land Institute has put together a neat searchable dataset of parking reforms in the USA. It’s a nice companion to the Parking Reform Atlas.

And a recent report from UCLA’s Adam Millard-Ball analyzed the high cost of wide residential streets. There is an accompanying website with a map and loads of charts and examples, check it out!

City News

• Seattle on-street parking rates increase in June; see what areas are affected
• Upper Cheyenne Canon parking lot receives major facelift
• Months-long battle over $50 parking ticket ends up costing Brookfield thousands
• Hong Kong Parking Spot Goes for $1.3 Million, Shattering World Record Amid Space Shortage

You can support a parking reform movement. Join the network or donate today.

Connecticut Passes State Level Reforms

Last week Connecticut passed a suite of state level reforms championed by DesegregateCT, to reform zoning laws. Check out PRN member and DesegregateCT founder Sara Bronin’s riveting and informative livetweet thread of the Senate hearing for many details. You can follow that up with analysis from Sightline Institute’s (and also a PRN member) Michael Andersen on what this might mean for other efforts around the country.

More mandatory parking requirements news

• Fairmont, West Virginia, City Council passes four ordinances to improve building, development
• Richmond, VA councilman wants to strike rules governing parking requirements for new developments; panel agrees to study
• ‘Home In Tacoma’ Advances with Recommendation to Eliminate Single-Family Zoning

Everything is Five (Canadian) Dollars in Penticton

One should never expect much from local coverage of parking rate increases and merchants are notorious for blaming parking for their troubles, but it sure is strange how it seems people only drive to downtown Penticton, BC for $5 purchases.

More curb management

• Major Changes To Parking In Downtown St. Cloud, MN Begin Next Week
• Sign of times as parking prices in downtown Jacksonville increase but signage called ‘misleading’
• Popular Ontario tourist destination imposing big fines to avoid huge influx of visitors

How Much is That Curb Outside Your Window?

Another interesting research paper from UC Santa Cruz’s Adam Millard-Ball explores The Width and Value of Residential Streets.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• No handicapped parking outside houses in La Crosse, an unwritten rule

Parking 101

• The Perils of Central Planning for Parking by Donald Shoup

COVID Recovery

• The intersection of parking and housing
• Loop Alliance April report shows a continued, alarming rise in downtown parking levels
• Philadelphia needs to manage the return of the car as the pandemic subsides

Street Seats and Open Streets

• More Dining Spots Mean Fewer Parking Spots, And San Diego Seems Fine With That
• Polarizing parklets: How SF thinks about public space could forever change
• From parking to parks: San Diego preps for pedestrian-friendly makeover of downtown’s E Street
• Restaurant owners welcome Baker legislation extending outdoor dining in MA
• This is what New York City streets would look like with 25% less space for cars
• NYC gave up 8,550 parking spots for al fresco dining amid COVID

Parking and Mass Transit

• CO: Gov. Polis signs law giving RTD flexibility to reduce bus and train fares, charge for parking in lots
• The Former CATS Chief Talks Transit Plan Mistakes in Charlotte, NC

In case you missed it: Tackling Parking Reform In Hawai’i

We hosted a very informative online session featuring Kathleen Rooney from Honolulu. Kathleen gave some great tips for parking reformers, shared some eye-opening information about Honolulu’s climate action goals, and answered a lot of questions. Professor Donald Shoup makes several appearances. You can watch the recording here.

Dallas Holds Hearing on Reforms

The Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee in Dallas, TX held a pair of hearings to get public comment on potential parking reforms. Parking Reform Network member Nathaniel Barrett delivered a pair of twitter threads (meeting one | meeting two) summarizing some of the commentary.

Chicago Meters Montrose Harbor

Chicago turned on parking meters at a popular running destination last week. The meters are part of a 92 meter expansion covering 750 parking stalls in the city which may raise millions in revenue. Not everyone was happy about it, but claims that it would make the park less accessible didn’t win the day.

Odds and Ends

• UCLA’s Michael Manville explains How Parking Destroys Cities
• Sidewalk Labs launches Pebble, a sensor that uses real-time data to manage city parking
• ADU report: Implementing the Backyard Revolution
• This beautiful suburban neighborhood in Hamburg, Germany is missing one thing: The cars

Affordable Housing

• Boston City Council Considers Eliminating Parking Requirements for Affordable Housing Developments
• Parking Requirements Are Not a Useful Bargaining Chip for Increasing Affordable Housing

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• New Jersey beaches pay everyone, but parking keeps outsiders away
• Cancer patients often charged exorbitant fees for parking
• I-Team discovers Metro employees in Arlington, VA parking for free with invalid disabled parking placards

City News

• Downtown Spokane parking rates to be set based on occupancy
• Spokane City Council votes to change downtown meter parking prices

You don’t want to miss our event this Thursday: Tackling Parking Reform in Hawaii – Taking Down Parking Lots and Unpaving Paradise – featuring Kathleen Rooney from the Ulupono Initiative. Register for free here.

You can support a parking reform movement. Join the network or donate today.

Minneapolis Abolishes Costly Car Parking Mandates

The big news this week is the culmination of years of work in Minneapolis to eliminate damaging minimum parking requirements. On Friday, May 14th, the city council unanimously approved an ordinance implementing the Minneapolis 2040 Plan directive to do so. St. Paul is likely to eliminate its car parking requirements as well.

Philadelphia Looks to Reduce Parking Taxes

Philadelphia, PA may cut its taxes on parking lots and garages by more than 30% this coming July. But Philadelphia parking reformers say the move will undercut climate action and traffic safety goals.

Patrick Siegman breaks it down on Twitter, APA Says Poor Curb Management Costs Billions, and Sec. Pete (briefly) Talks Parking.

PRN Advisory Board member, Patrick Siegman, posted a great twitter thread about the genesis and reasons for California’s AB1401, and the lessons are universally applicable.

While the California APA is causing some to scratch their heads in its opposition to a clean AB1401, the national APA published this article on how poor curb management costs city’s tons of money.

And while it’s a brief mention, it’s notable that the Secretary of Transportation mentioned the potential impact on land use, particularly parking demand, if AV ever become a reality.

Street Eats and Open Streets

• In New Haven, they’ll be dining in the streets when restaurants reopen
• Where Covid’s Car-Free Streets Boosted Business
• Downtown organizers are betting on a car-free Main Street to boost city life in Salt Lake City.
• San Francisco rolls out lower permit fees, discounts for permanent parklet program
• Dozens of St. Petersburg businesses apply for parking space street dining program permit

Redeveloping and Repurposing Car Parking

• Parking Lot near USC sells for 5 million dollars.
• Demolition of Downtown Parking Structure 3 in Santa Monica is approved
• The Parking Podcast: E50: An Interview with Reachel Knight and a Conversation about Convertible Garages
• Here’s How Replacing Parking Lots With Parks Will Transform Downtown Dallas

City News

• Birmingham parking issues to be addressed
• City of Fairmont, West Virginia, aims to restructure parking requirements for downtown redevelopments
• Opinion: A simple solution to downtown Scottsdale’s parking debate
• $100,000 Will Buy You A Single Parking Spot In Brooklyn
• DC’s DDOT Launches New Digital Parking Permit System
• Parking changes coming to downtown Traverse City, MI
• Court ruling allows Chicago to double amount for parking tickets and fines
• Majority of council ready to implement parking plan in Crested Butte, CO
• Mountain View, CA considers more enforcement and paid parking to solve downtown parking woes
• Kew Gardens garage in Queens, NYC could be sustainable

You can support a parking reform movement. Join the network or donate today.