Vanessa Warheit’s Post

Ask cities what affordable housing they care about, and they'll tell you "affordable housing for people, ya dummy! What kind of question is that?" Look at actual city laws, though, and you'll find that affordable housing for cars is much more important, and city policy gets far more extra parking built than affordable housing units. Over the last 75 years, "parking minimums" spread like wildfire, often copy/pasted from one city code to another. While they may ensure cheap housing (aka parking) for cars, they've destroyed our cities — making them unwalkable, more expensive and essentially requiring a car as a ticket to society. It's why there are 2 billion parking spots for 300 million cars in the US. The good news is … that's changing, and fast. From Anchorage to Austin, the massive policy failure that are costly parking mandates are quickly disappearing. I'm proud Parkade was the first corporate sponsor of the Parking Reform Network, and props to Tony Jordan for getting words into this great piece from NPR on the changes we're seeing.

How important is a guaranteed parking spot? 😕 In the realm of apartment development, many cities are ditching parking mandates and are leaving the parking requirements up to the developers. Authorities are paying attention to people who argue that requiring a minimum number of parking spaces for new buildings makes it harder to build homes and makes more people choose to drive instead of using public transportation. They argue that: ➡️ Parking spaces are eyesores. ➡️ Parking spaces are expensive and often become a cost in the rent for the renter. ➡️ Parking spaces take up too much valuable space. Read the article by NPR below to learn more. #Multifamily #DigitalMarketing #CityLiving

Repealing parking minimums just makes sense, they allow for more space to be used for things like housing and less regulation allows for free market principles to determine how much parking is needed at any given location - it does not mean there will be no more parking spaces in a new building, just a smarter amount of parking spaces not set by decades-old regulation. https://lnkd.in/eqaSXRGZ

Interesting article.

If they can do it in Austin – one of the most car-centric cities in the country – we can do it here too. Every neighborhood starts with an intention. In Baton Rouge, and the majority of cities around the country, the intention has historically been to develop commercial corridors and car-dependent destinations – hence, stringent parking minimums that require developers to spend resources servicing cars over people. In order to plan for vibrant, pedestrian-safe neighborhoods, we have to do something about these outdated regulations. In implementing the Government Street road diet, we saw that by taking away some road and parking space, the corridor was actually able to welcome more customers, cyclists, walkers, and others who add to the bustling street life. Current zoning rules limit our ability to plan for the kind of places where people actually want to visit, live, and start businesses. City councils across the country are realizing this, and taking steps to enact zoning measures that get rid of parking minimums. I'm glad to see it! The next time the subject of parking comes up in your community, remember: if we want walkable places, we can’t over-prescribe for parking space.  #parking #walkability #urbandesign

Austin proposes scrapping parking minimums, aiming for less parking, more affordable housing, and walkable neighborhoods, despite resistance. Over 50 other cities have embraced this change, believing it enhances transit and housing, reducing sprawl and costs. https://lnkd.in/eqaSXRGZ #ParkingNormsRevamp #AffordableLiving #TransitPriority #UrbanPlanning #SustainableCities

As I re-listen to Joni Mitchell's opening line of Big Yellow Taxi, "They paved paradise, put up a parking lot," I can't help but think of the enormous amount of precious land I've seen covered in asphalt and concrete. Thankfully, forward-thinking municipalities are now giving us the chance to slow the paving down and reclaim pieces of our urban paradise. Austin and more than 50 other cities and towns have thrown out their government mandated parking spot minimums. These minimums, attached to almost every type of development, are often arbitrarily assigned, and have led to parking lot sprawl pretty much everywhere in the US. These sprawling areas of asphalt and concrete have made our cities hotter, less livable, less green, less walkable and less bikable, and less developable and affordable (yes, countless housing developments have been nixed because they couldn't meet parking minimums). By throwing out their parking spot minimums, these are cities displaying leadership and are broadcasting that it's time to be smarter (and more market driven) about how we use our urban real estate - that is, in the service of making our cities more livable for people, not more convenient for cars. Bravo, and may many more cities follow in their footsteps. #urbandevelopment #urbanmobility #urbanism #livablecities #austin

While removing minimums is only part of the solution (funding alternatives to car travel is not mentioned in the article), it's good to see that cities are beginning to re-prioritize people over cars.

Cities from coast to coast are tossing out the rules for how many off-street parking spaces are needed for apartments and businesses, as NPR’s Laurel Wamsley reports. In addition to parking structures being expensive to build and prone to trapping heat, they also create sprawl and make neighborhoods make less walkable, experts say. In removing parking minimums, cities hope to end up with better public transit, more affordable housing, and walkable neighborhoods. So far, more than 50 cities and towns have thrown out their parking minimums — from Austin and San Jose, to Gainesville, Fla. and Anchorage, Alaska. But it hasn’t been without criticism. Read more here: