After you view this video at vox, featuring Don Shoup from UCLA, I hope you’ll be, like me, a Shoupista, when it comes to how we handle our parking here in Boston and really everywhere. And note that Boston hasn’t done what it should on point 1, but we are trying point 2. Enjoy!
Tag: Donald Shoup
We Need to Talk About Parking
A critical piece of the walkability/livability discussion is the problem of parking. Some minor flare-ups around the proposal to replace (temporarily) even one car parking space with a corral that could accommodate at least ten bikes highlights the passion and sensitivity some feel around the issue. For those who don’t have time to pore over an 800-page bestselling book on the topic (“The High Cost of Free Parking”), we’ll try to lay out piece by piece over the next few weeks why parking–and especially free parking–can be toxic to the health of a community and especially a neighborhood shopping district.
In the meantime, though, last week’s Planet Money episode “Free Parking” provides an entertaining and engaging introduction to the topic, through the prism of a parking exchange startup that originated in Baltimore and was subsequently banned in Boston. Although the story is interesting from a number of perspectives, we urge everyone to listen closely to the interview with Donald Shoup, author of the aforementioned bestseller.
Stay tuned for more.