Parking

UFT disappoints on parking

by David Alpert   •   January 8, 2008 11:26 am

Randi Weingarten, president of NYC's United Federation of Teachers, acted against the public interest by defending parking placards for teachers, as just another type of benefit and digging in her heels to protect the status quo.

Unions are a controversial part of our society and economy. Years of conservative framing have made many citizens deeply suspicious of unions, though they

As the comments on Edwize, the UFT's own blog, reveal, teachers don't agree that they need parking. Most schools have accessible public transit and little parking space, yet as Streetsblog tells us, teachers, cops and firefighters are twice as likely to drive, even from neighborhoods where most residents commute by transit. Teachers who do take transit don't benefit from the parking placard giveaway.

Instead of subsidizing driving, as the permit program does, we could find better solutions. Teachers in less accessible schools could receive an added salary bonus, which they could use to drive and pay to park, or take transit and afford taxis from time to time, or move closer to the school. By giving out free parking, the only solution available to the teacher is to drive. We should instead give teachers freedom and resources to solve mobility problems on their own.

Weingarten could have argued for this, or a cash-out law like California's or (as one Edwize commenter suggests) paired her criticism with support for congestion pricing. High rates of asthma, obesity, and dangerous streets affect children and teachers more than the need for parking. The UFT's slogan is "teachers want what children need." Children don't need school administrators using their playgrounds as parking lots.

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. 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.