Breakfast links: Withdrawal symptoms

by David Alpert • June 1, 2009 8:36 am

Photo by cackhanded.

Performance Diet Coke-ing: Matt Yglesias attended one of Dr. Shoup's talks last week, and points out how absurd it is to insist on creating shortages by underpricing a scarce good. If we insisted on cheap Diet Coke and dealt with shortages by requiring new buildings to supply large amounts of Diet Coke, we'd all think it absurd, so why not with parking?

Delusional parkers: Waiter Rant talks with a DPW employee in his New York area suburb, who has legions of stories about people who park, don't pay the mere quarter per hour in that town, then whine and even go to court if they get a lousy $20 ticket. They and AAA probably write letters to the local paper about that town's "war on drivers" too.

Cars and graves only: An area resident rode his bike to Arlington National Cemetery for Memorial Day. But security guards, guiding hundreds of cars, motorcycles and SUVs onto the grounds of the cemetery, told him bicycles were not allowed. (Post)

Ode to concrete: Roger Lewis tells preservationists not to lose heart from losing Third Church; there are plenty of other "hard to love" concrete egg crate buildings to save. But "with a creative facade makeover, even the brutal can be made beautiful." It's more sustainable to make an awful building more functional and more attractive. Will DC's HPRB allow such changes?

Sprawl harms our health; Post says "don't stop": The American Adademy of Pediatrics claims that the sprawl form of development is a big driver of childhood obesity and lifelong health problems. (PilotOnline.com) ... Meanwhile, responding to serious concerns about Virginia's proposed conversion of HOV lanes into HOT lanes on I-95 and I=395, the Post's Dr. Gridlock argues that the only problem with highways is that we don't build more of them, all the time.

Will Americans break the addiction?: Economists predict 2009 to have the lowest rate of new-car sales since 1970. Will Americans' addiction to new cars roar back when the economy recovers, or will the growing number of people turning to car sharing, or just keeping their used cars longer, turn into a permanent shift in American culture? Now that the government owns most of GM, the Treasury Department is even more interested in the answer. (New York Times, Stephen Miller)

And: Is there a relationship between population density and MLB ticket prices? (Extraordinary Observations) ... Zipcar places some innovative ads on 7th Street (PQ Living, Stephen Miller) ... You're not allowed to smile on a Virginia license, or in three other states. (USA Today)

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13 comments

Tags: advertising, Arlington Cemetery, auto industry, bicycling, Brutalism, car dependence, car sharing, density, DMV, economics, historic preservation, links, parking, performance parking, press, public health, security, sprawl

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington. He has had a lifelong interest in great cities and great communities. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.

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cough. The "new york suburb" pulls in:

"The DPW guy tells me the town’s annual haul from its five hundred meters. It’s enough to pay the salaries of two or three teachers."

DC pulls in something like 79 million dollars a year in parking FINES. God alone knows what they pull in for parking fees. It is the largest single revenue item in the district.

It is time to stop pretending that parking policy in DC has anything to do with "density", "development" or "urban planning." It is all about revenue, folks. Maybe they deserve to get the money because they don't have a commuter tax.

But it strikes me that DC residents are the ones being ill served by this policy.

by charlie on Jun 1, 2009 9:35 am

Charlie: it strikes me that drivers are the ones served by metered parking. It keeps on-street parking spots from being taken over by otherwise garaged vehicles.

by VA Driver on Jun 1, 2009 10:32 am

Having gone to Dr. Shoup's talk last week, I'm more on-board with performance-parking. An effective parking meter pricing program can effectively guarantee a spot on the street.

by Froggie on Jun 1, 2009 10:46 am

Regarding the Arlington Cemetery story, cars are not generally allowed in ANC. Only family and friends attending a funeral or those visiting a specific grave are allowed to drive and they must first visit the Administration building for a pass.

I certainly don't fault Mr. Jordan for not knowing this, as it's only obliquely mentioned in the website. Also, as a special treat, the security guards at the Cemetery are a special blend of rude and ignorant of the applicable regulations. And so far, I've hit about 30% accuracy rate when I ask the folks at the visitor center a question that is not already answered by the brochure.

Presumably, and I'd certainly wager no money on it, if Mr. Jordan had gone to the Admin building and got a vehicle permit to visit someone, he might be allowed in. But then he'd have to go back to the aforementioned security guards and attempt to explain that his vehicle was made with two wheels on purpose, and not by accident. I wouldn't envy him that conversation.

by TimK on Jun 1, 2009 10:59 am

The problem, VA Driver, is that everybody thinks parking should be free for *them*, but then are surprised that that means other people have taken all the parking.

FWIW, it would not surprise me that the ticket revenue is higher than the meter revenue. At the typical rates, one ticket is around 20-100 hours of parking time.

by ah on Jun 1, 2009 11:17 am

VA driver, my point is that in DC parking is treated as a revenue issue, pure and simple. Shills asking for performance parking are really asking for more DC revenue. I have no problem with that -- if DC needs money they need money.

So debates about performance parking or weekend parking are just a sideshow to the real issue: show me the money.

by charlie on Jun 1, 2009 11:34 am

Thanks for another link to evidence that an unwalkable built environment has major costs both human and economic.

by Bianchi on Jun 1, 2009 11:37 am

@ charlie: And why would parking not be treated as a source of revenue? Do you have a good answer for that?

by Jasper on Jun 1, 2009 1:17 pm

Well, Jasper, it's not like governments don't have a history of giving away resources for free or close to. (Hello, mining, timber, and oil industries!)

by ah on Jun 1, 2009 3:21 pm

The problem with allowing bicycles into Arlington Cemetery is that some riders would consider it a giant bike trail, rather then a place for burials and mourning. As it stands now, the security is kept busy with joggers who either don't read the signs or ignore them. Arlington is not a park, it is a cemetery.

As for the cars, SUVs, etc being allowed into the cemetary, they are generally directed to a parking lot, to the Ft. Meyer Post Chapel for services or to a spefific section to see a gravesite. No one is allowed to just drive around the cemetery taking in the sights.

Finally, if a person wants to avoid the traffice going into the cemetery, he or she can always take the Metro and then walk to where they are going, or ride a bike, park it at the Metro station and then walk onto the grounds.

by tivonia on Jun 1, 2009 3:48 pm

re: arlington national cemetery and bicycles, timk wrote:

"Presumably, and I'd certainly wager no money on it, if Mr. Jordan had gone to the Admin building and got a vehicle permit to visit someone, he might be allowed in."

yes, that is what happens. we received vehicle passes marked 'bike' when visiting a grave site.

by bikesnick on Jun 1, 2009 5:26 pm

I don't find paying for parking any more onerous than paying to ride the metro. Infrastructure costs a lot of money to maintain.

It will be interesting to see car owenership trends in the US over the next 5-10 years. Even *before* the $4 gallon gas spike, mileage driven on US roads had started to decline, if very slightly. Baby boomers will drive fewer miles as they retire. A younger generation of drivers is coming online and their attitudes toward the car are different--the under 30 crowd is far more aware of the environmental costs of driving than their older cohorts.

And we are finally building walkable cities again and core downtown neighborhoods are picking up population. The recession has been far harsher in the exurbs than downtown. That's certainly a new trend.

We aren't seeing the death of car, but we are, I believe, entering a new era where the suburban car culture will no longer be king.

by michaelA on Jun 2, 2009 10:31 am

bikesnick,

Thanks! I wondered if that was the case, but couldn't find anything to support it. Good to know,

Tim

by TimK on Jun 2, 2009 11:11 am