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Shoup Lite – The Battle Continues ... from Page 33


I lured you in, Peter, now here we go ... First of all, you should read Shoup’s book (“The High Cost


of Free Parking”), not attack amere acolyte. Shoupistas have the facts that in the U.S. (where the book is based), in most cases the parking requirements set by local zoning laws are ludicrous (one space for every four nuns in a convent, two spaces for each sta- tion at a beauty shop, one space for every 1,000 gallons at a pub- lic swimming pool, etc.). The problem is that these


and hundreds of like require- ments across the fruited plain keep downtowns from redevel- oping. If a restaurant wants to go where a hardware was before, it can’t, because not enough parking is available. Why not let the restaurant


if not, no big box store. As for your desire to have a democracy decide just how


“I parked here yesterday, it was a dollar, and now it’s $5? No way, Jose.”


take the risk? If there isn’t enough parking, it will go bust. Or maybe someone will create the parking – use on-street valets, cut deals with the bank down the street that has parking in off hours, etc. With government planners in control, you have the blind leading the sighted. As for transportation planning, that is an entirely different


issue, Peter. If a developer wants to put in a shopping center, then the approvals required in the U.S. are legend ... and traffic and transportation issues are at the top of the list. Developers are required to provide the infrastructure for their development and,


much parking should cost – come on, Peter, give me a break. That’s what started all this parking problem in the first place. The mayor’s wife whispers in his ear that her girlfriends think that parking costs too much downtown and the next week the parking folks are changing the signs Realistically, what happens is that merchants have issues with their customer volume and look around for someone to blame; they find the local park- ing manager and get out the rope.They moan about needing free parking, parking costing too much, not enough parking and prices go down; the spaces are no longer available, and you think all is right with the


world? Guess again, Peter. Isn’t the UK health system the poster child for demanding


free parking and then finding that the ambulances can’t get to the hospitals because all the cars are jamming the streets trying to get to the free parking? I thought that as soon as reasonable fees were instituted, the parking problems began to go away, The “democracy” raised hell about it, and where they won, parking problems came right back. “Groupthink” is usually wrong. If the free market set the


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FEBRUARY 2010 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


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