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The following is testimony I planned to deliver to the rules committee of the Philadelphia City Council on October 16. The hearing on this bill was postponed. So I decided to share my thoughts here.
Good morning. My name is Bill West. I am co-chair of the streets committee of the Center City Residents’ Association, and I am here to inform you that CCRA opposes the parking minimums bill, number 160710.
Pretty much the entire country is moving away from parking minimums, with the exception of Philadelphia's City Council. Why is the country moving away from parking minimums? Because they're a bad idea.
Parking minimums drive up the cost of housing and distort the built fabric of the city in many ways. And they increase the number of cars on streets whose size has not changed; this leads to increased traffic congestion and air pollution.
Nearly ten years ago, parking guru Donald Shoup put it this way: “Like alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, minimum parking requirements do more harm than good and should be repealed.”
If you're concerned about the shortage of on-street parking spaces in Center City, raise the meter price. There's plenty of off-street parking in Center City. People don't use it because parking at the curb is so much cheaper.
Finally, if you are in favor of affordable housing, you should not vote for this bill.
Thank you.
See also All the Whining Will Be the Sound of Change, Finding Our Way to a Parking Policy, It's the Road Design, Stupid.
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