Would fewer spots mean fewer cars?
The Examiner asks the question of whether limiting the number of parking spaces required in new high-rise developments would actually cause people to give up their cars. Probably not, I’d say…
“Currently, The City requires downtown housing to have a minimum of one parking space for every four units, though certain projects have been granted exceptions. Legislation sponsored by Supervisor Chris Daly would permit developers to build new downtown housing with no parking spaces.”
Does it come as any surprise that Chris Daly is behind this? Actually I am a bit surprised… I’m from Colorado where (after I left) the residents ‘intelligently’ decided that they wouldn’t build a light rail between Boulder and Denver to help with traffic because (to quote one of my long-time friends) they “don’t want the Californians to move here,” and “if we make life difficult, and the traffic bad enough, they’ll stay in California.” Uh huh. Funny how all that did was make life extremely difficult for the long-time residents, many of whom are now leaving town…
In Manhattan, there are goods and services everywhere as well as a very well-developed transportation system. In Daly’s SoBe/SoMa districts, we are beginning to see services, but we are still a car-commuter culture.
“Joe Cassidy, a residential developer, said even though downtown residents will likely walk or take transit to work, they’ll want a car on the weekends for getting out of town or grocery shopping.”
In the end, if Daly is going to let something get built to test his theory (whatever that might be), then let him do it and we’ll see how it goes. After all, it’s far better than his other fights for wanting to see more affordable or no-income housing in order for a project to go through, which has been effectively killing projects (or sending developers elsewhere before they even get started) all over his district.
