Portlanders for Parking Reform

Better Parking Policy For The City of Roses

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Preposterous Portland: Development agency wants to build a parking garage on top of a parking garage in the middle of a transit center

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UPDATE 1/16 9:30pm: NextPortland blogger Iain MacKenzie posted on twitter that the Prosper Portland Board has decided to go forward with the office building addition, but without the added parking. This is a good decision by the board, let’s hope it sticks.

Prosper Portland is betting 32 million dollars on 442 stall car parking garage next to a light rail station and transit center, but that’s not enough exposure to the risky parking market for the agency. Plans recently surfaced to build more than 100 additional car parking stalls on top of the existing garage, ostensibly to support a 10 story office topper.

Prosper Portland keeps dumping money into parking structures in the Rose Quarter

The agency, with a mission to “create economic growth and opportunity for Portland,” initially predicted the 442 stall garage under construction would net $500,000 a year in profits, but has since backed off those claims. Indeed, as car rental revenues at airports plummet, it seems less and less likely that visitors to Portland will choose to rent a car and pay high valet parking rates at the convention center hotel when they can take the MAX for $2.50 or take a ride-hailing service for 1/3 the cost of a day’s parking.

The project underway was a lynchpin to the complicated deal to build the 600 room Hyatt Regency hotel at the Oregon Convention Center. The financial risk of that garage was, apparently, worth the economic benefits to the region of the long-desired hotel project. It would seem that the hotel operator doesn’t consider the garage to be good investment, or they would have decided to build and manage the garage themselves.

The soon-to-be parking garage is designed to accommodate a structure like the proposed office tower on top, which is a defensible investment. But doubling down on more parking (at ~$60,000 a stall) is a massive unforced error by the agency that seems to consider car parking the solution to all it’s woes, even though it’s clear that more parking supply undermines the cities climate and transportation goals.

A peculiar location for more parking

Literally steps from the parking garage is the Rose Quarter Transit Center, which hosts four MAX light rail lines, two frequent service bus lines, CTRAN connections to Vancouver, five other Trimet lines, and it’s a short walk from the Portland Streetcar (and more frequent service buses). The city owns two massive parking garages, containing more than 1000 stalls, just about a quarter mile from the new garage. These garages are currently under contract with Rip City Management, and remain largely vacant when the Blazers (or Elton John) aren’t playing at the Moda Center.

This area of town is very well served by transit and massive residential developments nearby at the Lloyd Center position the region to be a bustling and lively center for entertainment and commerce, easily enjoyable without a personal automobile.

Investment that should serve the city

Ultimately, this proposal should be an opportunity to debate the direction Prosper Portland is headed and whether the organization is focusing on the future of the city or it’s own cash flow.

If Portlanders were asked how $6,000,000 could be invested for “job creation, innovation and economic opportunity throughout Portland to create one of the world’s healthiest, most desirable and equitable cities” how many people would suggest a parking garage built on top of a parking garage in the middle of a transit center?

Prosper Portland has been linked to efforts to build commuter parking garages in the Central Eastside Industrial District and in Old Town/Chinatown. In fact, the agency reportedly is managing a $57 million dollar “Investment and Parking” fund for the latter. If the agency was truly interested in innovative investments in transporting workers and customers to Old Town/Chinatown then that money could fund almost all of the ambitious Central City In Motion multimodal project.

How can you get involved

Prosper Portland is a quasi-governmental agency, their board and budget require city approval. The agency is in Mayor Ted Wheeler’s portfolio; concerned citizens can contact his office at MayorWheeler@portlandoregon.gov.

Prosper Portland meets monthly at 222 SW 5th Ave in Portland. The next board meeting is on February 13th at 6pm. Public comment is available by a signup sheet.

23 Stories and zero parking stalls: Proposed Pearl District hotel/apartment project packs meeting

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A building that would likely be the city’s tallest to have no on-site parking went before the Portland Design Commission on January 3rd. The meeting was reported to be packed with residents, many of whom opposed the development’s height and impact on traffic. But others in the neighborhood, including the Pearl District Neighborhood Association (PDNA), were more supportive of the project with some reservations.

The 250 foot tall building would provide roughly 170 hotel rooms on 11 floors and another 110 apartments on 11 more floors as well as ground level retail, all parking would be provided by off-site valet services.

Rendering of proposed building containing 170 hotel rooms, 110 apartments, and no parking.

The location, on NW 12th and NW Flanders, has been owned since 2016 by Vibrant Cities, a Seattle-based development firm. In June, the Oregonian reported that the developer had initially planned to build an apartment tower on the site, but shifted the focus to a hotel use after the city of Portland passed inclusionary housing requirements. Additional height allowed by the 2035 Comprehensive Plan, seems to have enabled a reimagining of the project to provide both a hotel and apartments, including the required affordable homes.

In September, the PDNA submitted a letter to the design commission which was particularly forward-thinking regarding the developer’s choice to forgo building expensive on-site parking, recognizing that “parking garages are the most expensive part of new developments” and building less parking can “[increase] housing affordability and [provide] more options for renters that do not own vehicles.” 

This project will likely face further opposition from neighbors who will insist on lower heights and on-site parking. Ironically, on-site parking would cause additional traffic and conflicts with pedestrians and cyclists; the very issues opponents claim the current configuration will bring. Proponents of multi-modal transportation will be needed to point out what should be obvious, more parking brings more congestion.

While many smaller parking-free projects have been developed in the last decade, this is, hopefully, a sign that larger buildings with no parking will be able to secure funding in the future. As the PDNA points out, “the Pearl is an ideal location to live and work car-free, especially at this particular site where numerous amenities and tens of thousands of jobs are located in reasonable walking distance.”


Central City In Motion Plan Acquires A Parking Parasite

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City council could approve a backdoor plan to spend public money on parking garages in the Central Eastside and it’s cynically tied to a long awaited project to reduce car trips in the central city.

City Council needs to hear from YOU about this secret parking policy. When you’re done reading, send an email to cctestimony@portlandoregon.gov before Thursday November 15 (put Agenda Item 1184: CCIM Parking Strategy in the subject). Tell City Council to cut out any new publicly funded parking supply from the CCIM Parking Strategy Report.  Tell Council to stay the course with Transportation Demand Management and don’t undermine the great projects in the Central City In Motion Plan.

Central City In Motion (CCIM) is a plan to keep the central city of Portland moving. It’s made up of 18 great projects that will make streets safer for walking, more comfortable for cycling, and faster for transit and, sometimes, freight.

After many years and thousands of public comments and meetings the project is finally scheduled to come before city council this week, on November 15th at 2pm.

But Central City In Motion has acquired a companion report and it’s not so good.

The Central City In Motion Parking Supply and Demand Management Strategies Report was released to the public, for the first time, on November 8th. Many people only learned of existence of this report earlier that day when the City Council agenda was released with a second item for CCIM.

Who Was At The Table?

Over the last 5 years, Portland has overhauled it’s parking policy, and it’s getting pretty good. This has taken countless volunteer hours, open houses, and hearings. There have been at least four stakeholder committees to review our parking policies, covering everything from loading zone signage to residential parking permits. At every step of the way, advocacy groups, the public, and business interests have been at the table to shape these policies.

Staff has held meetings with numerous stakeholders and potential partners, both within the City and private entities, to develop the accompanying report and strategies. Key partners involved in shaping the report and providing input include, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, City of Portland Spectators Venue Program, the Central Eastside Industrial Council, the Portland Business Alliance, Portland Public Schools, Multnomah County, and Go lloyd.
Stakeholders Only Included Business Interests And Land Holders

But the CCIM Parking Supply and Demand Management Report was developed internally with input mostly from business interests like the Central Eastside Industrial Council and the Portland Business Alliance. Other groups consulted are primarily large land holders or managers of existing off-street parking supply that the city proposes to open up for public use.

It does not appear that any community groups, transportation advocacy organizations, or neighborhood groups were brought into the process.

And the report’s findings reflect that lack of any countervailing viewpoint among the stakeholders.

A Path Forward To Build A New Garage

The Central Eastside Industrial Council has been angling for new publicly funded parking for years, but new publicly funded parking is among the lowest priorities for PBOT. Thwarted thus far, the CEIC has supported some good parking policy instead. The area has many metered streets and the parking permit program charges almost $25 a month for residential and commuter permits.

The CEIC would seemingly prefer to apply that cash-flow toward new parking supply, perhaps by partnering with Prosper Portland, the city’s development fund that has pursued commuter parking projects in recent years. But, so far, there hasn’t been a policy that provides a path to building more parking.

Enter “Strategy 8” the “Off-Street Parking Investment Fund.”

Undertaking a new, wholly-publicly owned parking garage is an expensive investment in Portland’s Central City. In addition, there are no obvious City- owned properties where a new publicly owned parking garage could be straightforwardly implemented. However, the City could invest public funds by issuing bonds to increase the number of parking spots being built as part of another new development. This type of partnership would remove the need for the City to purchase property speci cally for a parking garage and allow the city to minimize risk.
$50,000/stall is optimistic. Convention Center Hotel parking is costing more than $60,000/stall

If City Council approves this project, CEIC will perceive this strategy as an endorsement of the desire to apply revenue from on-street parking to this investment fund.  While the strategy claims the strategy of buying parking in new developments would reduce risk, this is a stretch. It seems very similar to an attempted deal between Prosper Portland and a prospective developer in Old Town/Chinatown.  Under that deal, the developer would build to their maximum allowable parking allotment (they were planning to build only 1/2 of their allowed stalls) and after construction, Prosper Portland proposed to buy ALL the underground parking from the developer and lease back the stalls to the developer for use by residents in the building. Far from minimizing risk to public funds, this type of deal puts all the risk of long-term parking onto the city.

Worse Than Risky

Investing in parking garages in 2018 or beyond is a bad bet. Construction costs are sky high, parking demand is declining at many destinations, transportation is changing rapidly, and the city is working hard to reduce automobile trips.  But even if it wasn’t a bad fiscal play, building new parking will undermine our ability to reduce car trips, reduce emissions, and make our streets safer.

The amount of parking in our city center is, effectively, the minimum number of car trips that are accommodated by our built environment. Most (if not all) of the time, the city has excess parking supply in the City Center. It might not be exactly in front of the restaurant someone is going to, but it is there. The fewer stalls that exist in the central city, the more inconvenient and expensive it will be to park. If there are more stalls, then it is easier to make the choice to drive to the central city rather than to take transit, bike, or walk.

CCIM and associated projects are designed to reduce the number of car trips to the city center. Reallocating on-street parking to other modes is a very effective way to do so, it makes driving less convenient and makes other modes more convenient. Replacing that lost parking supply undermines the goal. It invites more cars into the central city on one hand, while the other hand is trying to discourage them.

Isn’t Traffic Bad Enough Already?

The amount of parking in the Central Eastside is already supporting unacceptable congestion. Traffic congestion is consistently among the most cited complaints of Portlanders. But would the CCIM projects even actually reduce the parking supply in the Central Eastside? Not if new private parking is considered.

A project under construction right now at SE Stark and SE Water Ave, contains 6 floors of commercial parking. A few blocks away at 525 SE MLK, another building under construction includes underground parking. We still aren’t heading in the right direction in regards to parking supply in the Central Eastside, to meet our mode split goals we cannot add any more car trips to the central city, regardless of expected population and job growth.

New Parking Under Construction At SE 7 Stark Ave

What Should We Do?

The CCIM Parking Strategy and Demand Management Report isn’t all bad. There is one very, very good strategy mentioned. It’s also the one already being implemented, it’s proven to be successful, and it’s relatively cheap.

The Transportation Wallet

The first strategy mentioned is to increase funding for transportation demand management (TDM). The city is currently running a program to provide discounted, or in some cases free, Transportation Wallets to residents and workers in areas with parking meters and permits.  Money from the meters and permits is used to subsidize a package of alternative transportation options.  Right now, that package includes $100 on a TriMet Hop Card, a Portland Streetcar pass, and an annual BIKETOWN membership. The CCIM parking report suggests that people who opt-out of parking permits could be provided with an annual TriMet pass and providing deeper discounts for low income workers.

The city could go even further.  Right now the CEIC is paying $250,000 a year to operate a sparingly used parking lot circulator shuttle. A bold TDM strategy would be to scrap the shuttle (which is near both the streetcar and the Eastbank Esplanade) and provide 2,500 Central Eastside workers with free transportation wallets.

The city is looking at expanding the options provided in the wallet as well. Car share and e-scooters are two mobility options that could be added to the wallet soon.

A Proven Strategy

Transportation Demand Management works. On the same day the city finally published the parking strategy report, Sarah Goforth from PBOT presented a lecture at PSU’s Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC).

Goforth detailed how a combination of on-street parking management and the transportation wallet are leading to real reductions in parking demand.  You can watch her presentation here.

Let The Current Policy Work

The most recent parking policy to go through a full stakeholder process, including representatives from the CEIC and PBA, was the Performance Based Parking Management project. This policy will lead to performance-based price adjustments in areas with parking meters, like the Central Eastside. The first adjustments will happen next year.

Additionally, several years ago, the city completed and passed a Central City Parking Policy Update (incidentally, the PBA and CEIC were represented on that committee as well). Among other things, the policy relaxed rules about shared-parking. This relaxation meant that parking which was built for one purpose, say residential use, could be used for commercial parking as well.

These policies were developed in the normal public process. They are hard fought policies that will produce results.  We should not undermine our goals by passing a backdoor plan to build more parking garages and rent private parking spaces for public use.

A Call To Action

City Council needs to hear from YOU about this secret parking policy.  Send an email to cctestimony@portlandoregon.gov before Thursday November 15 (put Agenda Item 1184: CCIM Parking Strategy in the subject). Tell City Council to cut out any new publicly funded parking supply from the CCIM Parking Strategy Report.  Tell Council to stay the course with Transportation Demand Management and don’t undermine the great projects in the Central City In Motion Plan.

Testify In Person

There is a hearing scheduled on Thursday November 15 at 2 p.m. City Council Chambers: 1221 SW 4th Avenue, Portland.

We encourage you to support the Central City In Motion project, but please tell city council to cut new publicly funded parking strategies from the CCIM Parking Strategy Report.

City Should Require Convertible Public Parking Garages, Not Just Encourage Them

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With climate action goals and tens of millions of public dollars in the balance, is saying “please” enough to convince Prosper Portland to avoid building soon-to-be obsolete parking structures?

Take action now! Email cc2035@portlandoregon.gov and let them know what you think about this amendment! Do you think it goes far enough? What methods of encouragement should be used in the implementation of this policy? A few sentences in your own words goes a LONG WAY!

Be sure to use subject: “CC2035 Testimony” and reference Flexible Building Design Policy, Volume 1, Amendment 1.

City Council won’t act on the requests of dozens of Portlanders to remove goals to build more commuter parking in the central city from the CC2035 plan. On December 6th, however,  Mayor Wheeler did propose an amendment to “encourage flexible building design and construction” of city funded buildings, including parking structures.  (View this, and other amendments, here)

Garage With Lights On It

For years, businesses in Old Town, Chinatown, and the Central Eastside have been promised more commuter parking and Prosper Portland has been working to make new garages, and a potential short-term revenue stream, a reality. But these promises were made in a much different time. Services like Lyft, Car2Go, ReachNow, and Biketown didn’t exist yet. Autonomous transit only existed in the minds of science fiction writers, and climate action wasn’t (but certainly should have been) the urgent issue it is today. New car parking garages are a 20th century solution to 21st century problems.

Convertible parking structures are a step in the right direction, but bigger steps are needed if transportation targets for commuters are going to be met. Repurposable designs should be required for any city built structures. City agencies must also prove that new facilities are self-sustaining, are fiscally responsible, and don’t negatively impact progress on climate action goals.

Tell Portland City Council that you support this amendment, but remind them that it doesn’t go far enough. New parking structures will drain city coffers and induce more frustrating traffic. Make sure they understand that more action is needed, and soon, to avoid a costly generational mistake. Prosper Portland can assist the continued development of Old Town, Chinatown, and the Central Eastside by financing affordable housing near these job centers and more innovative alternative transportation options for folks who choose to live elsewhere.

1. Add flexible building design policy Policy section: New Regional Center Policy 1.14 Sponsored by: Wheeler (12/6/17, Table O1) New Policy 1.14: Flexible building design. Encourage flexible building design and construction, including structured parking, that allows buildings to be repurposed and accommodate a variety of uses in the future. Explanation: The policy calls for flexible building designs that allow future repurposing of buildings, encouraging structured parking to be built to be convertible to a future nonparking use(s).
Text of the amendment.

How can you help?

Email cc2035@portlandoregon.gov and let them know what you think about this amendment! Do you think it goes far enough? What methods of encouragement should be used in the implementation of this policy? A few sentences in your own words goes a LONG WAY!

Be sure to use subject: “CC2035 Testimony” and reference Flexible Building Design Policy, Volume 1, Amendment 1.

Attend drop-in hours on Tuesday, January 9, 2018, in the City Hall Atrium from 5 – 7 p.m. Let staff know if you support this step, but make sure to express concerns if you think it doesn’t go far enough.

Testify at the City Council hearing on January 18th, 2017 at City Hall at 2PM in support of this amendment.

Parking Structure photo via https://www.flickr.com/photos/schluesselbein/4445085357

Worse Than Wasteful: New Parking Garages Undermine Climate Goals

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TAKE ACTION: Testimony is accepted before September 22nd, 5PM on the CC2035 plan which includes goals to build new car parking structures with city backed bonds and parking meter revenue. Click this link for more information.

Portland City Council is considering a massive plan for the next 20 years of development in the central city. This plan is supposed to set the stage for a more sustainable, equitable, and livable city, but it contains plans to waste money on single-use commuter and visitor parking garages that will take decades to pay off, siphoning critical money we could use to transition to transit and other modes.

It is worse than wasteful to build publicly funded or financed parking garages in our central city. If the Convention Center Hotel Parking Garage is any indication, these hulking structures will be filled with car parking stalls costing more than $50,000 each. To pay back the loans required, those parking stalls will need to be filled with motor vehicles, parked at premium prices, nearly every day for the next 20-30 years.

This is a no-win situation for Portland. If those garages are profitable, it will mean that our goals to cut car traffic to downtown have failed. If we succeed at our critical and ambitious climate goals, then taxpayers will be on the hook for millions of dollars. It would be better to burn the money than build garages with it.

A 100 dollar bill burning.
It would be better to burn the money than spend it on a parking garage.

In the next two days, please take a minute and tell City Council that this is a very bad idea.

Let’s Use What We Have Already

The desire to build more parking is based on the belief of Prosper Portland and other groups that we don’t have enough car parking in the central city. This is debatable. There are many many thousands of parking stalls in the city, but at any given time they are empty due to regulations (residential parking in downtown can’t currently be leased to commuters) or they are parked up with cars that might not be there if we had higher prices for meters or if we had better transit. Let’s use smarter parking management tools to make better use of what we have. Let’s prioritize transit traffic on our streets so that taking the bus is a more viable option. We can make do with what we have now before future trends reduce parking demand.

Let Private Capital Take The Risk

If car parking was a good long-term fiscal bet, then private developers would be begging for the opportunity to build it, but it isn’t. Parking is expensive to build and a very risky investment in this time of extreme transportation disruption. Developers aren’t willing to build new parking garages unless the city is willing to take all the long-term risk. The city has far greater priorities than parking, like deeply-affordable housing.

Require That Parking Garages Pencil Out

If the city is still going to consider building (or buying) a parking garage, shouldn’t it be required to show the real risk of taxpayers footing the bill? Consultants for Prosper Portland can produce projections that show the garages can be self-sustaining in today’s market, but if you ask how much money the garage will make in 2030, they will say “no one knows the future.”

We need to demand better than that. Surely no one can know the future, but we can take into account the impact that ride-share, self-driving buses, and our own climate action goals will have on parking demand. If a car parking garage can’t pay for itself, Portland taxpayers should know about it. Require realistic projections for long-term viability and, better yet, require a vote of the public to green-light a garage.

Require 100% Convertibility To Active Uses

Prosper Portland and PBOT say that it’s ok to build garages that might be empty because we can convert them to homes or offices in the future. If this is true, then there should be no controversy in the city passing an ordinance requiring any city-involved parking structure be 100% convertible to active uses in the future, storage units don’t cut it. Without that guarantee, it’s very likely that new garages will be single-use facilities that will be an albatross around the neck of Portland residents for a generation.

Take Action In Three Minutes

30 Seconds – Start an email to cc2035@portlandoregon.gov with the subject: CC2035 Testimony

1 Minute – Ask council to require that any new parking built with city involvement be 100% convertible to active uses.

1 Minute – Ask council to remove incentives to build new parking garages from action plan items TR7, TR22, RC58, and RC4.

30 Seconds – Sign your name and address. Hit send.