To be blunt... no, parking is terrible. It's terrible for the city, it's terrible for drivers health, it's terrible for accident rates, it's just overall terrible. But it's also amazingly sweet to get that last free spot on the block. However, this article is literally the BEST article I have EVER READ about parking! It discusses "lot men" in LA back at the beginning and how parking has shaped the city, and made traffic congestion and life there that much worse. Comparing city requirements for parking in LA and New York is shocking, it amazes me that LA supports that much parking in the city, more than supports it, *requires* it!
The amount of open space used for parking in LA is outrageous, and the number of cars increases congestion way too much. If we could find a better/cleaner/safer way to use that space, we could maybe make the city more efficient. But parking is a very touchy subject, the article points out that parking enforcement people have been spit on, attacked, and even shot for issuing tickets (and they only make $35,000 to $45,000 a year). The idea of parking causing so much anger makes me wonder if we shouldn't allow parking at all. Not only that, only about 10% of the time people get a ticket for illegal parking, so we should accept our losses, as one of the few times when we are parked illegally, and maybe they should issue tickets more like 90% of the time to actually enforce the laws and make sure people know the true cost of parking (But we should also start paying meter maids way more money).Anyway, Dave Gardetta does a much better job explaining this than I do, so please, read this article, and then stop driving!!
R
No comments:
Post a Comment