Local parking policies

I "refused" to sign a petition at the Bike to Work Day for the "DC Clean Air" something or other legislation, which is the proposal to charge a $25/month tax for downtown office parking.

It's not that I am against this necessarily, although I think it is a mistake to do this not very carefully, given that DC competes with Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Bethesda, Silver Spring, etc., for business location.

I am against it because it gives local residents a pass on their parking behavior. DC charges $15 for a parking permit for residents, and many blocks in the city don't even require a parking permit.

As long as parking is virtually free, people are overencouraged to have cars.

San Francisco has a far more nuanced parking policy than does DC, although who knows, maybe in the context of the Zoning Review process (see the presentation on parking here) that could change.

See "Rethinking San Francisco’s Parking Requirements" for how they do it... as they put it before the changes:

Our parking requirements fail to recognize that many parts of San Francisco work well precisely because they support a lifestyle less dependent on cars. Many places were built before the advent of the automobile, are easily accessible on foot and by transit, and have a variety of neighborhood-serving shops within an easy walk of home. They rely on a critical mass of people and activity in close proximity, providing access to a wide variety of goods and services close by. If we can revise our parking requirements to build on these urban qualities, new development can add to the character of our city, rather than detract from it.

They write that excessive parking requirements:

• Degrade The Quality of Urban Places
• Generate Traffic
• Take Up valuable Space
• Make Housing Less Affordable