Note: During her talk, Reb Kaplan posed a question for us all to consider. She said “The question is, ‘Who and how are we going to pay for [parking], not whether it’s free.’”

Reb noted that the California vehicle license fee used to provide money to cities; since the fee has been cut, our cities have lost about $5 billion a year. She urged us to look to sources of income like these and consider our priorities. She also pointed out that millions of dollars have been earmarked for the fourth bore in the Caldecott Tunnel, but it is not too late to demand that those funds be used for developing alternative modes of transportation.

Q: How long to get it [the price of parking] right?

A (Terri): Monitoring over a 3-6 months is necessary. Likely a year to year and a half to get it right

In San Francisco there’s a bill to achieve 15% vacancy.   It would take about a year of monitoring to know how effective it is. We have been looking at doing other things on cost [of parking]. For example, on commercial streets, each hour can get more expensive to discourage people from long-term parking.

Q: Does MTC have any regulatory authority over what cities can do? Oakland requires developers to provide one parking space per unit. I don’t have a car, and resent having to pay for building parking.

A (Terri): MTC doesn’t have regulatory authority but does have a fiscal influence. Oakland has a 25% reduction for parking as a requirement for the C-28 overlay in the municipal code. 

(Rebecca): The city doesn’t have a staff person responsible for traffic reduction-related planning.

(Rebecca, on Parking permits): There’s no reason you couldn’t hire extra people to enforce parking permits.

(Terri): Some cities don’t want residential parking permit zones, but need them; and they need pressure from residents [to develop them].

Q: With regard to comprehensive parking, what would be some of the things that would happen with big parking lots (like Walgreen’s, Frazee’s)?

A (Terri): If those are private parking lots, I don’t think the city can do anything.

A (Ann): Maybe there are opportunity [sites?] where places could be reserved for structured parking.

Q: This is a general question, but I’m looking for specifics as well: we are all concerned with the impact of parking in the neighborhood, and creating a walkable, livable neighborhood. On the one hand, I am hearing that the more dense development is, the less people will drive. But then, there’s the problem of overflow, and customers of mixed-use developments. How do you achieve a balance. Has that been sought and achieved anywhere?

A (Ann): You can unbundle parking but assure that businesses are not only patronized  by residents. The idea of charging for parking is central for people who come from outside.

A (Terri): You also want to look at the kind of businesses in your community: are they local-serving or more regional? What’s the mix that you want?

A (Rebecca): There are successful examples: Portland , Amsterdam , Brazil . I think it also requires being more creative. What’s going to make it worth [the city’s] while to meter as a driving disincentive? If you provide good public transit, have bike parking, you can really have a vibrant customer base. You could have grocery stores delivering: One van delivers to 20 people instead of 20 people driving. This is especially good for seniors and people with disabilities. Build those things as developer requirements.

A (Ann): These TDM programs give a menu of options. Require a developer or someone to pay for monitoring to see what actually works.

Comment: In France , medium-size cities were planned in the Middle Ages. The streets and sidewalks are narrow, and buildings are high. Most have developed pedestrian centers, starting about 35 years ago. The merchants were totally opposed. Now they love it. It feels like a celebration every day: everyone is in the streets. It really brought people of all ages to the streets. The parking lots are outside; inside the only vehicles are buses and trucks.

Response (Ann): The park-once district idea is slowly being adopted.

Comment resumed: We have to get away from incentive by punishing or taxing: develop a mentality of pleasure to live without a car. We have to make the walking and bicycling a pleasure. I am amazed that here it is so hard to walk for pleasure: the lack of sidewalks, not enough shade, smog. The pleasure of being outside is taken away from you.

Q: What is happening with bus rapid transit (BRT) on Telegraph, and when will it start?

A (Rebecca): The money has been allocated [and the service is planned]  for the Telegraph through International Boulevard corridor.

It includes:

• satellite signal technology with live LED displays from satellites that will show when the bus is actually arriving, not according to a schedule, but when it will really be there
• technology that allows busses to trigger traffic light changes so that they don’t get caught at lights and can stay on schedule
• streetscape improvements, with improved shelters

There are some undecided questions: BRT in Europe provides a level of service typically provided by light rail, with dedicated bus lanes. The question about whether the Telegraph bus will get a dedicated lane is a political question that has nothing to do with the transit agency. The city has jurisdiction. That decision has not been made.

Q: One concern I have heard about increasing density is, when you have increased density and unbundle parking from building, what will ensure that people in the neighborhood have parking space?

A (Terri): You could also create a different district for that building.

(Clarification: Parking permits are allocated according to zones or “districts” based on residential addresses. The concern expressed in the above question is that if we unbundle parking from the price of residential units of new development, residents might choose not to buy parking, but still have a car that they just park on the street. Terri suggests above that addresses in new residential developments could be considered a different zone or district and thus not eligible for residential parking permits that would allow them to park on the street. Reb Kaplan made a similar suggestion).

Q: Streetscape improvements: is there any way to get AC Transit  equipment boxes to be underground? (The problem for this attendee, also a merchant, is that they are ugly and that they block the store-front view from the street. He suggested that they could at least be mad into public art projects).

A (Rebecca): They have to be above ground. Merchants could be consulted as to where exactly they will go. She enjoyed the idea of making them into public art! She also invited the attendee to contact her to discuss this further.

Comment: If you have a parking district, where you locate the parking is important [so you can] walk to restaurants, stores, and truly create a livable street—unlike [Symphony Hall?]  in Los Angeles , where people drive into underground parking and drive out and never touch the street.