Parking Minimums Are Bad Policy. I Will Stand With Anyone Who Opposes Them.

[@AndyInTheFort]

My city eliminated parking minimums in the central business district, and reduced them drastically everywhere else in the city. Unfortunately, the damage was already done and we have what the city calls an "excessive parking" situation. I know it will take decades to see the results of our policy change, but I'm happy for the progress we have made so far, and will continue to put in the work and volunteer for my city. I do, however, sometimes wish I had enough money to accelerate the process by building some truly amazing apartments, or something, in our empty, 500+ acre mall parking lot.

[@TheRealE.B.]

It really says something about the state of our politics in 2024 that any sort of political cooperation seems to instinctively trigger apologism, when in fact our entire system of government is based on cooperation and is alarmingly close to collapsing due to lack of it.

[@tann_man]

Idk "cooperation" just means uniparty. More forever wars, 6 trillion dollars to Israel and more regulations and laws that advantage the corporate lobbyists who buy them.

[@Cyrus992]

I spoke with Herman Cain who is running for Clark County (Las Vegas) Commissioner. He supports removing the mandates.

[@jonq8714]

I'm a Landscape Architect and it drives me insane how town codes dictate preposterous amounts of parking... with how people shop online now, it's totally archaic.

[@thechikage1091]

My favorite part about "I don't like politics" when talking about policy is that policy is literally what politics is. Deciding what paint markings to have on a road is politics. Because it's policy.

[@natebillimack947]

Private parties can still build parking if they feel it is beneficial. I don’t immediately see this as government overreach. Even though it’s enacted at a state level, it actually provides more freedom for the end user. I am an architect, and I spend countless hours at work engineering parking calculations to appease the city. We support large food distributors who desperately want and need to expand to keep up with the growing demand of the valley but are “maxed out” on development solely because they are landlocked by their own unused mandated parking lots. It’s such a gross waste of resources. Legislation like this is definitely a step in the right direction for cities. Let’s bring this to Arizona, the surface parking capital of the planet!!

[@michaeljfoley1]

You have such a great attitude and perspective about this. I also tend to be very fiscal-conservative/libertarian, but I tend to find other libertarians to be very pro-suburbia, and not very interested in New Urbanist/Strong Town ideas. Libertarians and myself, we agree on so many other fundamental things, but on this particular subject (this very very crucial subject), we just seem to butt heads.

[@CasualCommuter_]

The great part about most urbanist fundamentals is that they're just common sense- equitable and fiscally responsible. Getting that message across in some cases can be tough, especially when challenging the status quo. Our Strong Towns Local Conversations chapter just red Paved Paradise at our book club, and we've been having a good discussions on parking going around- we even got a few city councilors to join in and share their thoughts! The city is going ahead with a review of our zoning codes, and will push to include parking reform as part of that.

[@eugenetswong]

Chuck, thank you for speaking out for us! I'm from Canada. Yes, let's all become political about parking minimums.

[@yaiirable]

6:25 "I'm not a politically active person" Not sure what definition you are using, but of course Strong Towns is political!

[@beback_]

It is political but I think he meant "non-partisan". The power of ST is that it brings right-leaning people to a cause that has traditionally been left-dominated.

[@cloudyskies5497]

If this is going to a vote by the people then I gotta figure out when that's happening so i can support it. I agree in terms of urbanism (or whatever you want to call it) crossing the political divide. It's great to see.

[@mikko.g]

Are you suggesting that I should have no mandated tax payer funded or hidden price funded place to leave my personal property when I go and visit the local establishment or consortium!?! How dare.

[@beback_]

I think instead of enacting a ban on bans we should just remove the bans one by one through local activism. That goes better with the "small government" spirit of the movement.

[@Junetau]

👏👏👏

[@jackmerrill8424]

Chuck, I bet you that if you looked into the concrete policies those leaders actually support, you’d have a lot more common ground than you seem to think.

[@tann_man]

He'd probably have less.

[@kailahmann1823]

Fixing parking minimums on a state level has two major advantages: You only have to do this 50 times and not like 50,000 times and even more important local politics are often very heavily influenced by people, who profit on car dependent sprawl.

[@notsolm]

We bought a new-build condo. The local council required a minimum number of parking spots based on the size of the condos. *BUT* the vast bulk of the parking had to be underground. This has meant there's enough parking to avoid chaos on the local streets, while still leaving space for shared playgrounds, gardens and general green space. With relatively little of the above-ground space being dedicated for cars. Personally I find this to be a good balance.

[@danieljk826]

The problem with that is that underground parking (and parking garages) increase the costs per unit greatly, making it unfeasible for anything other than high-end housing. Also, if mandates are too high, you end up with unused underground parking you paid too much to build. And finally, it encourages car dependency and removes barriers to car ownership that serve to limit the number of cars on the roads.

[@Casual_Stroll]

Fiscal conservative? Nobody tell Chuck how much car dealerships donate to Republicans...

[@Cyrus992]

Politicians differ from the voters

[@mariusfacktor3597]

Chuck didn't say he voted Republican. Republicans posture as being fiscally conservative but they run up the deficit to shovel tax payer money into corporate pockets every chance they get. Truly ideologically conservative people in America align more with progressives today than Republicans.

[@Casual_Stroll]

@@Cyrus992 I mean, sure, and maybe Chuck is the first self identified "Fiscal conservative" I've encountered that doesn't vote overwhelmingly red but it'd definitely be a big first. Broader point is I actually advocate for safer road design where I live and in my experience, the only enthusiastic support comes from the D's while the most enthusiastic opposition comes from the R's

[@Cyrus992]

That doesn't mean the D's are on our side when it comes to every issue. It is harder to get permits and too many NIMBY's in D cities.@@Casual_Stroll

[@Bismvth]

Your problem is in assuming that the Republican Party has had any intellectual honesty, consistency, or even seriousness at any point in the last 40 years

[@Andrea-lj4jg]

I hoped we shouldn't had to work with ilhan omar who I don't like at all but if doing that would help to eliminate parking minimums then.... why not.