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Portlanders for Parking Reform

Better Parking Policy For The City of Roses

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Permit Pricing

Portland Included in FHWA’s Parking Pricing Case Studies

April 16, 2017 By Shoupista 1 Comment

(On-Street Parking in Boise Neighborhood)

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) last month released two documents – “FHWA-Parking Pricing Workshop Summaries” and “FHWA Sponsored Parking Pricing Projects Update 2017” – on parking management and pricing initiatives in several U.S. cities including Seattle, Denver, and Portland.

Since FHWA sponsored the Portland Parking Symposium in June 2015, the City of Portland has made notable changes in its parking policy and management programs such as (1) raising downtown meter rate to $2.00; (2) developing an on-street parking toolkit for NW Portland; and (3) removing parking minimums for housing projects under the Inclusionary Housing Zoning Code near frequent transit.

The workshop summaries document also noted a neighborhood on-street parking permit system in the works:

“few neighborhoods currently have parking permit programs, and the city is looking to enact new policies to address parking shortages where they exist. Everyone who lives in those residential districts will be entitled to parking; however, it will not be free”.

However, the highly anticipated permit program never came to fruition. After a year-long public process and receiving support from both neighborhoods and city staff , the residential permit program was blocked from even getting a vote by Commissioner Amanda Fritz. Subsequently, all documents and information about the residential permit program were removed from the project website.

The FHWA report shows many other cities, such as Boston, Denver, Houston, and D.C., use neighborhood residential permits to help manage on-street parking. There is no reason why Portland cannot implement this tool. It is unclear whether City Council plans to revisit the residential permit program this year, but the pressure for residential permits will continue to grow as some neighborhoods may resist new development under Inclusionary Housing and increasing housing infill due to fear for more competition for on-street parking.

Filed Under: Permit Pricing, Permits

Portland’s Parking Problem Is An Excess Of Free On-Street Parking

November 14, 2016 By TonyJ 5 Comments

Everyone needs to wash their clothes. Society provides a number of ways for people to manage this necessity. Some people wash their clothes by hand. Some people pay for a laundry service to wash their clothes. Some people take their clothes to a nearby laundromat.  Some people wash their clothes in a communal laundry room. Some people own their own washer and dryer. Some people own very expensive washers and dryers and pay people to wash their clothes in their own home.

A Laundromat

Imagine a city where laundry service is free, first come first serve, for as much as the service could handle. Many people get up very early to take their laundry to the service and they don’t own a washer and dryer.  Imagine local laundromats are free as well. Most people never consider buying a washer and dryer. Laundromats are very crowded day and night and laundry services reach capacity early in the morning. Should this city require all residents to buy a washer and dryer?  Should this city require all new residences, or at least some of them, to have on-site washing machines and dryers? Of course not. The laundry services and laundromats should stop providing free services. People will decide if they are willing to pay for those services. Developers/landlords will provide washers and dryers for residents who prefer the convenience and are willing to shoulder the expense of having that luxury amenity.

Everyone in Portland needs to be able to get around.  Some people walk, ride, or take transit, cabs, or Lyfts to their destination. Some people own personal cars. Those people who own cars need places to park them and on-street parking in Portland is like the imaginary laundry service and laundromats, free. In some parts of town, on-street parking is congested day and night. In some neighborhoods residents rush home after work to find a space and the street is packed by 7PM. Should the city solve this problem by requiring some or all new residences to have their own supply of parking? It shouldn’t, but it does.

Cars Parked on StreetContrary to the lead of this KATU news article, Portland doesn’t have a shortage of parking. It’s even disputable that Portland has a shortage of free on-street parking. Instead, Portland has a shortage of political courage to implement effective parking management strategies.

Concerned neighbors would like to continue to require developers to build an “adequate” amount of off-street parking.  The problem is that, when on-street parking is literally or practically free, there is no way to tell what an adequate supply of parking is.

There is no magic ratio that will meet parking demand in a dense neighborhood. Excess parking supply will induce demand. As Donald Shoup famously quipped “minimum parking requirements act like a fertility drug for cars.” Opponents to parking reform point out that surveys say 7 of every 10 new residents in mixed use developments own a car when they move in. They say developers should build at least 7 parking spaces for every 10 apartments.

Arbitrary parking ratios make as much sense as arbitrary washer and dryer ratios.

The city doesn’t require in-unit or even on-site washing machines, but somehow, without the benefit of city regulations, people get their clothes washed and here is no such thing as “laundry congestion” and no one speaks of a “laundry nightmare.”

The proper way to determine the right amount of parking for a building is to manage the on-street parking supply with market rate residential permits. If Portlanders truly want to build an equitable, walkable, and sustainable city they should count the on-street parking spaces in their neighborhoods and sell some fraction of that number of parking permits at a price that manages demand.

Portland City Council will hear from citizens on November 17th about an amendment to eliminate minimum parking requirements for new developments near frequent service transit.  Join us in encouraging them to pass this amendment.

Email City Council By November 17!

Everyone can do this, do it now!

Write to cputestimony@portlandoregon.gov with subject line “Comprehensive Plan Implementation”  Please cc: or bcc: pdxshoupistas@gmail.com.

Tell them in your own words that housing is more important than car parking and they should pass Amendment 34 to the Comprehensive plan to eliminate minimum parking requirements in mixed use zones.

We have talking points if you need them!

Join Us on November 17th and Give Testimony

The biggest impact will come from people showing and speaking to council.  Council needs to hear from people who face rent increases and displacement due to anti-affordable housing policy like parking requirements.  Testifying is easy.  Simply state, in your own words, why this issue concerns you and tell council that you want them to eliminate minimum parking requirements.

We have prepared a document with talking points for your convenience.

November 17th, 2PM @ Portland City Hall

If you plan to testify, please RSVP via this form so we have an idea of what support we can expect. We may be able to save you time by signing you up.

Write to the Commissioners

Send an email to the members of City Council.  We suggest you do this by November 17th.

Write to Commissioner Steve Novick, Mayor Charlie Hales, Commissioner Nick Fish, Commissioner Dan Saltzman, and Commissioner Amanda Fritz.  Let them know that you value housing for people over shelter for cars.

Filed Under: Minimum Parking Requirements, Permit Pricing, Permits

Curb Enthusiasm: Empowering Neighborhoods to Create Safer Streets with Parking Benefit Districts

September 6, 2016 By Shoupista 1 Comment

Residential Permit Zone Boundary Concept
(Photo source: PBOT)


The recent series of traffic crashes on Portland streets has raised a strong sense of urgency among transportation advocates, community leaders, and local residents to demand action to improve street safety. The tragic
death of a child and life-threatening injuries of another caused by two separate drivers have devastated families and our community. As a result, Vision Zero advocates and traffic safety experts are reminding us that while there are many approaches to making streets safer, the most effective approach to reduce fatalities and serious injuries is changing street designs and the built-environment to prioritize the safety of road users over vehicular speed.

However, safety improvements such as enhanced crossings or pedestrian medians that protect the most vulnerable users are often implemented slowly due to the fact the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has limited resources for safety enhancement projects and any change to existing streets would likely cause strong local opposition (these are explanations but not excuses). This means that if there a dangerous street that you or your child must cross every day to go to work or school, your neighborhood will probably have to wait for years to receive any safety improvement due to lack of funding and lengthy public process.

But what if there is a way for neighborhoods to empower themselves, fund their own street safety improvements, and create the change they desperately need?

Parking Benefit Districts

The answer is parking benefit districts. Parking benefit districts is a parking management tool for neighborhoods to capture parking revenue from both on-street parking meters and overnight residential permits and keep that revenue for the neighborhood. It works like this:

(1) neighborhoods work with the city to identify areas with on-street parking congestion and draw a parking benefit district to charge parking fees within the district boundary to reduce parking congestion;
(2) neighborhoods then can set up a “transportation safety enhancement” fund to collect and keep the net parking revenue after covering the administration costs of the program;
(3) the city can provide a menu of small capital projects or street improvement options to neighborhoods that adopt the program so they can decide how to invest their local parking revenue
(4) empowered by parking revenue, neighborhoods can now pay for more transportation options (e.g. bus passes) or small capital projects (e.g. rapid flashing beacon) or that increase the safety and comfort of every resident who uses the street.

The merits and benefits of parking benefit districts have been well documented by many scholars and organizations, such as Professor Donald Shoup at UCLA and the Sightline Institute (I highly recommend reading these articles). Instead of reiterating what these experts have already said, this article will focus on specifically how Portland neighborhoods can take advantage of the proposed residential permit program and create parking benefit districts that will bring locally dedicated revenues to pay for transportation safety enhancements.

Residential Permit Program: A Hypothetical Demonstration

In December, 2015, a stakeholder advisory committee tasked to advise the City of Portland on the development of new parking management tools proposed recommendations for a residential permit program. According to the draft proposal, “the permit area must be comprised of at least 20 contiguous block faces or 5 blocks or 4000’ linear feet.” and the recommended occupancy rate in residential zones is 85%.

Using data from a 1995 parking study in Portland, Shoup estimates that 33 parking spaces are available on a typical block’s 1,012-foot perimeter (The High Cost of Free Parking, p518). Using this measurement, we can conservatively assume that a typical street block face can accommodate 8 parking spaces. In order to not exceed the 85% target occupancy rate, each block face gets 6 residential permits. Thus, a single parking benefit district that contains 20 block faces (or 5 full blocks) in any inner Portland neighborhood can potentially sell 120 (6 x 20 = 120) permits to the residents living within and adjacent to the parking benefit district.

Hypothetically, if each residential parking permit is priced at $25 a month, and all 120 permits in this parking benefit district are sold, the district would generate $3,000 (25 x 120) a month or $36,000 a year in parking revenue for the neighborhood. The amount of parking revenue may be even higher if the permits are progressively priced as recommended by the parking stakeholder advisory committee. Meaning that the second parking permit will cost more than the first, etc., and residents with off-street parking will pay a higher price for their first permit. If the second permit costs twice as much as the first one, at $50 a month, and if two-thirds of the permits were sold in at the first-permit rate and the rest were sold at the second-permit rate, this would yield $4,000 a month ($25 x 80 + $50 x 40 = $4,000) or $48,000 a year in parking revenue.

Admittedly, the math here is crude. Also, no one knows certainly how much monthly permits will cost nor who will have the power to set the price. Nevertheless, this hypothetical scenario shows how much revenue neighborhoods can potentially receive if residents decide to charge for curb parking and the forgone opportunity cost for every day curb parking remains free.

If a neighborhood can receive $48,000 a year to spend on transportation safety enhancements, what kind of improvements can the residents collectively buy? A PBOT document  from 2013 for the East Burnside Street Transportation Safety Project shows cost estimates for some safety improvements recommended for East Burnside:

  • Speed Limit Reduction: $100 per sign; $2,000 – $5,000 per study
  • Travel Lane Modification: $150,000
  • Pedestrian Refuge Island: $10,000-$20,000
  • Curb Extensions: $30,000-$40,000 per corner
  • Flashing Beacon: $200,000

In addition, according to BikePortland, a traffic diverter could cost between $5,000 and $30,000. Based on these cost estimates, a neighborhood that sets up a 5-block parking benefit district can pay for a pedestrian refuge island, a curb extension or a traffic diverter within one year and still have some change left to pay for other public goods like street trees.

Think about a street like Hawthorne Boulevard. It is a major commercial corridor that attracts a lot of foot traffic but it is not a friendly environment for walking and biking. Nonetheless, PBOT’s data show that compared to other high crash corridors, Hawthorne is relatively safe. Therefore, it is difficult to justify using public money to pay safety improvements on Hawthorne when there are many other streets in worse shape in East Portland. If both Richmond and Sunnyside set up a parking benefit district in their neighborhoods, they could pool their resources together and enhance safety on Hawthorne rather than waiting for the City to take action.

A Benefit in Search of A Beneficiary

In The High Cost of Free Parking, Shoup notes that “curb parking revenue is a benefit in search of a beneficiary”. No one likes to start paying for something they have always had for free. However, charging for on-street parking in residential neighborhoods would be a lot more political favorable if the people who have to pay see their money come back to their neighborhood and used for their benefits. By adopting a residential permit zone to charge the right price for parking and a parking benefit district, neighborhoods that have experienced on-street parking congestion can (1) reduce over-crowding of curb parking caused by new development, (2) maintain access to convenient curb parking spaces, and (3) empower themselves to invest in transportation safety enhancements within the neighborhood boundary. Long-term residents who bemoan the loss of “livability” and increase in traffic on local streets can turn back the tides by charging for curbside car-storage.

Indeed, evidence from at least nine other U.S. cities show that parking benefit districts are invaluable neighborhood assets. For example, parking benefit districts in Pasadena and San Diego generate over a million dollar of parking fees annually dedicated for local investments. In Austin, TX parking revenue has created better public spaces and infrastructure for walking and bicycling by paying for sidewalk repair, cycle tracks, bike racks, street trees, and benches.

Some people might say “Portland is not Austin” or “Portland is not San Diego”. How do we know parking benefit districts will work in Portland and bring all the benefits it promises to bring? It will work in Portland because it already did – in the Lloyd District. The Lloyd District used to be an auto-oriented, suburban style neighborhood of office buildings and shopping mall and devoid of street life. However, in 1997 the district association turned on its first 1,000 parking meters and soon some employers started charging commuters for parking as well. Today, funded by parking revenue from 1,900 metered stalls, Go Lloyd provides incentives to commuters to use transit, walking, and bicycling and improve workers’ access to more transportation options.

The results of investing parking revenues in non-drive alone mobility options is impressive. According to BikePortland, between 1994 and 2013, the percentage of drive-alone commuters in the Lloyd District dropped from 72 to 42 percent. Transit usage increased more than three-fold, and walking and biking to work also increased significantly. It is also no surprise that this area has some of the best bicycling and walking infrastructure in the City. The story of the Lloyd District shows when a neighborhood decides to abandon the entitlement of free-parking, it opens itself to a future of increased safety, livability, and mobility options for its residents and workers.

From Curb Enthusiasm to Neighborhood Empowerment

The parking war in 2013 that led Portland City Council to adopt mandatory parking minimums for new development demonstrates that on-street parking is perhaps the most sacred amenity in Portland’s residential neighborhoods. This outcome also affirms that neighborhood voices are extremely powerful in the politics of parking. But the desires for better parking management and safe streets for our children and families are not mutually exclusive. In fact, there is a lot of untapped synergy that can create strong political momentum to accelerate infrastructure investments that will benefit neighborhoods locally.  

The good new is PBOT is working on developing various parking management programs, such as residential permit zones and performance-based pricing, that will increase the feasibility of parking benefit districts. We are already halfway there, but our elected officials are averse to political risks and they need to know that the desire for parking benefit districts comes from the neighborhoods, not planners. In the wake of the recent spree of traffic violence on our streets, it is clear that we urgently need infrastructure improvements and waiting for the City to to fix our streets may result in another devastating, yet, preventable, traffic death in our community. Parking benefit districts can empower neighborhoods with locally-collected and locally-spent revenue and that allows neighborhoods to pay for safety enhancement projects and reduce traffic fatality and serious injuries.

 

Filed Under: Parking Benefit Districts, Permit Pricing, Permits

Will City Council Impose Rent-Raising Minimum Requirements In NW PDX?

May 24, 2016 By TonyJ 2 Comments

On July 6th at 2PM City Council will consider a Planning and Sustainability Commission (PSC) recommendation to allow for more flexible and efficient uses of the existing parking supply in NW Portland, a smart move. During the hearing, however, Northwest Parking Stakeholder Advisory Committee (NW Parking SAC) members will ask council to amend the proposal and add back in minimum parking requirements.

In March, Portlanders on the NW Parking SAC asked the Planning and Sustainability Commission to recommend new minimum parking requirements for multi-family developments in northwest Portland.

The Planning and Sustainability Commission declined to make the recommendation due, primarily, to concerns about the effect of parking minimums on housing affordability.  Furthermore, as Commissioner Chris Smith pointed out, the NW Parking SAC could have requested higher monthly parking permit fees or denied access to permits in new developments without parking, both would be more effective at solving the perceived problem than minimum parking requirements.

Parking Garage
Photo By Jesse Schoem

It’s possible that the committee will eventually look to market-rate permit prices to manage the on-street supply, but apparently not until they are sure they can’t pass the cost of parking onto new residents instead.

According to the minutes from the committee’s May meeting, they will give testimony concerning “affordable housing, market behavior, car ownership, and permit restrictions.”

This will be an important test of City Council’s resolve to deal with the affordable housing crisis.

Mark your calendars and prepare testimony, all the Shoupistas in Portland can send a strong message to council that we don’t want to see another step backwards with parking policy.  The way forward is with market-rate permits and other progressive parking policy.

Filed Under: Permit Pricing, Permits, Zoning

Portland’s Central Eastside to Blaze the Way for Market Rate Permits

March 25, 2016 By TonyJ 4 Comments

Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID) has a parking problem, and the Central Eastside Industrial Council (CEIC) is pursuing a smart solution.  The CEID doesn’t have any dedicated parking garages and with rapid growth on the horizon the on-street parking situation will only get more congested.  Fortunately, rather than requesting (or demanding) minimum on-site parking requirements in the area, the CEIC plans to raise the price of parking permits to rates rarely seen in the United States.

According to this notice sent to residents and businesses affected, the price of area parking permits in the zones N

ndustrial Portland Oregon
Photo by https://www.flickr.com/photos/71380981@N06/

and G will double on May 1st, going from $70 a year to $140.  At the same time, the district will begin restricting access to permits by way of attrition.

But the move towards market rate prices won’t stop there.  In May of 2017, permits will be renewed for $210 per year and the in 2018 a permit renewal in these zones will cost a respectable $300 per year.

While still far cheaper than the cost many apartment dwellers would be expected to pay for on-site structured parking, $25 a month is much closer to what we would expect a market rate for on-street parking than the $5 a month charged, currently, for a “hunting license” in Northwest Portland.

Indeed, with the prospects for minimum parking requirements in Northwest Portland looking not-so-good, Rick Michaelson and the Northwest Parking District Stakeholder Advisory Committee would do well to follow the CEID’s lead and set a schedule for increasing permit rates.

This is a major step in the right direction for permit pricing, hopefully the CEIC decision will embolden PBOT staffers and city council to pursue similar rates for the new residential permit programs which may come before council this spring.

 

Filed Under: Permit Pricing, Permits

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