Paul (parking reform) Barter

If the most popular florist in town has ample parking available at 12pm on Valentines Day, it’s probably not necessary to have these parking mandates in our code!

One-size-fits-all parking for “retail” is arbitrary, hurts small businesses, and isn’t needed!

People of all ages and abilities wearing regular attire ride sturdy, upright bicycles on the streets of central Osaka.

People of all ages and abilities wearing regular attire ride sturdy, upright bicycles on the streets of central Osaka.

People of all ages and abilities wearing regular attire ride sturdy, upright bicycles on the streets of central Osaka.

People of all ages and abilities wearing regular attire ride sturdy, upright bicycles on the streets of central Osaka.

With 29% of all trips made by bike and 64% of bike trips made by women, Osaka is a cycling city beyond compare. What makes it even more remarkable is these gains were made in spite of very little dedicated infrastructure. So what can we learn from a place that didn't build it, and they came anyway?🧵

Nearly half of L.A. County’s pavement may be unnecessary, new map finds Researchers have released the first parcel-level analysis to map all paved surfaces across L.A. County. In particular, large parking lots are ripe for change, they say.

"The most potential they found was in parking areas..."

And they didn't even propose REMOVING any of the spaces!

www.latimes.com/environment/...

#Muskegon's paid parking program shows how cities can make visitors pay their fair share. Paid parking means out-of-town motorists help pay for the government services they use (parking, park maintenance, etc.), instead of bringing your town nothing but traffic, pollution, and parking problems.

A photo of a metal sandwich board sign which reads "the city of San Diego at work. Another repair project funded by parking meter revenue. City of San Diego Streets 619-527-7500." The sign sits on a sidewalk next to a roadway and in the background can be seen what appears to be a large white city maintenance truck.

" #SanDiego announced Wednesday that it has completed more than 3,500 neighborhood repairs over the past three months, funded by allocated parking meter revenue. ...over the past three months it has used that revenue to repair thousands of streetlights and potholes in those community district areas"

I’ll say it again. There IS such a thing as “vertical sprawl.” It’s not tall buildings. It’s tall buildings IN CAR-DEPENDENT SPRAWL.

If you do tall buildings in walkable, multi-modal urbanism, then it’s VERTICAL URBANISM, not vertical sprawl.

Suggesting otherwise means you don’t understand sprawl.

Spending a minute in an elevator is not equivalent to a 60-minute car commute!

‪Doctors say that vaccines protect children from dangerous diseases. A nepo baby who barbecues dogs and snorts cocaine off toilet seats says that vaccines make children vulnerable to 5G radiation. For busy parents, it can be hard to know who to trust.

Parking garage safety is a huge preoccupation in building codes – but only when it comes to fire. I’ve never heard any concern for getting hit by cars, which I’m sure is a far higher risk.

University of Denver Launches Hub for Housing Innovation with $2.65 Million in Philanthropic Support DENVER, Feb. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The...

"a 2025 study that found Denver's minimum parking requirements significantly reduce housing production. The analysis showed that eliminating parking mandates could enable the construction of an average of 450 additional homes per year under certain economic conditions, while also lowering...costs."

Sadly for India, a large body of research makes it clear that building more parking garages almost certainly will not "ease traffic." The opposite result can be expected!

Shapiro unveils a $1B plan to 'go big' on housing and zoning reform Gov. Shapiro’s $1B proposal targets housing shortages with new construction, zoning reform, and affordability measures statewide.

"The authors of the #Pew analysis recommended that the state follow the zoning reform path pursued by other states, including allowing missing-middle housing... reducing parking minimums, and permitting accessory dwelling units."

#Pennsylvania

axios: seattle board rejects gas works tower changes after fatal fall

pioneer square obstructs new housing to preserve parking garage

historic wallingford attempts to block new housing

giant truck in pike place. photo by QAGGGY

In recent years, Seattle historic preservation groups have:
🪜 blocked removing ladders at Gasworks where 3 have died
🅿️ blocked housing to keep a historic parking garage in Pioneer Square
🏠 blocked housing in wealthy neighborhoods because of "historic" Craftsmans
🚙 tried to keep cars in Pike Place

Too busy finishing his breakfast beer to park his 3 ton vehicle between the lines

The Pauking Edition On curb patience, slow-rolling Waymos, and the price of presence.

Seems bad:

"Our current roadspace regime—free driving lanes here, metered parking there—is a patchwork that autonomous vehicles will arbitrage relentlessly."

From @reillybrennan.com, sharp thinking here about AVs' impact on streets of the future.

Super interesting from the States on vehicle parking reform.

Why do *bars* have parking minimums? 🤯 Quite!

pca.st/episode/afd7...

Very curious to see a study comparing the average cost of a parking spot (including free parking) to the average rent for living space, both normalized e.g. per square foot. And also an estimate of just the land component of rent, ignoring building/maintenance.
I suspect the answer won’t be pretty.

And for those looking to correct this insanity, some wisdom on how to advocate for change: rss.com/podcasts/the...

This is likely true in Australia too

The math:

Parking spaces in the US: 1-2B (estimates vary)
Area per parking space: 250-350 square feet (includes drive aisles)
Cars in the US: 300M

Area per car: 833-2,333 square feet

Average housing square footage per American: 741

(from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2020 data)

A fact that sounds like bullshit but is actually true:

There is more square footage of parking *per car* in the US than there is square footage of housing *per person.*

America is a place where local officials impose costly parking mandates on every conceivable land use, and then spend their days considering who should get a special exemption.

This helps explain why it costs so much to build anything in this country.

#Firefighters and #paramedics should loudly support transit-only lanes (which, despite the name, are open to emergency response vehicles).

Let's Talk Parking Reform! | Podcast Episode on RSS.com Anna Fahey and Daniel Herriges discuss the importance of parking reform in housing advocacy. The conversation covers a three-step messaging framework: defining the problem, illustrating solutions, and...

🚗 Parking reform is notching wins in communities of all sizes, politics, and geographies.

@sightline.org's Anna Fahey and @parkingreform.org's Daniel Herriges have researched the way effective parking reform campaigns message to win. 🏆 Hear what they learned on The Stoop — out now!

Very intesting-looking new literature review article on how to define minimum levels of necessary mobility doi.org/10.1016/j.er...

Decades of car-first planning have left our cities with traffic, pollution, and communities cut off from one another. But cities don’t have to be this way. By designing streets that put people first, we can create vibrant, healthy, and connected urban spaces.
www.itdp.org/multimedia/u...

Tune in TOMORROW at 8am EST for the 2026 Sustainable Transport Award Ceremony, as ITDP and the Sustainable Transport Committee honor 2026 STA winner Salvador, Brazil and honorable mentions Kochi, India and Santiago, Chile. #STA26 🎉🏆

Sign up to receive a reminder tomorrow 👉 itdp.org/event/the-20...

The Best Tactics for Tackling Speeders Drivers who exceed speed limits are the cause of about one-third of all crash deaths in the US. To slow them down and save lives, cities have several effective tools.

The research is clear: Cities have many reliable ways to curtail speeding.

Lower the posted limit. Deploy traffic cameras. Insert speed humps. Install road diets.

They all work – and most residents support them.But implementation often feels like pulling teeth.

In Bloomberg, I explored why.

a literal parking lot

Currently dialed into a community board meeting where a bunch of boomer NIMBYs are trying to argue this NoHo parking lot needs to be preserved and not turned into affordable housing.

god, NIMBYs are beyond parody. they must be politically crushed

Cars covered with snow parked on city street.

Cars covered with snow parked on city street.

Cars covered with snow parked on city street.

Cars covered with snow parked on city street.

Something to keep in mind the next time the city tries to repurpose parking and drivers complain that every last car is necessary at all times. The storm was two weeks ago.