Policies Governing Curb Parking in the US - Assignment Example

Policies governing curb parking in U.S. Introduction Urban planning is a process that involves political andtechnical regulations and mainly focused on the use of urban land as well as designing its environment to ensure and guide the orderly communities and settlements’ development (Levy 5). The entire planning of urban development requires a lot of research and analysis, consultation strategic thinking, architecture, policy recommendation, policy/plans implementation, management, and urban design. One of the most important aspect of contemporary urban planning is transportation planning, which involves curb parking. With the increased need of parking space in urban centers, U.S. has adopted diverse policies to ensure charging of fair prices on curb parking centers. Thus, this reflection paper offers a relative analysis of policies of parking reform in U.S. with interest in the imperious role played by urban planning to ensure sustainable development. Parking and curb reforms are among the critical features of transportation infrastructure in a developed country like United States. Therefore, the management and provision of curbs should be coordinated carefully with other elements of transportation and the government should ensure that curb customers are charged fairly. The author of the article “Yes, parking reform is possible” argues that urban centers should charge the right prices for curb parking. I think this is a policy that should be adhered to because charging either too low or too high prices bring many negative effects. If cities charge too high prices for curb parking, then the parking will lose many customers resulting to employees losing their jobs, and the cities losing tax revenue (Shoup 31). On the other hand, charging too low prices means there will be no curb spaces, thus, leading to traffic congestion, fuel wastage, and air pollution. Further, the writer of this article argues that the council should aim at setting parking policies and not parking charges. It is logical to support this statement because curb spaces are multi-billion dollar private or public investment in the United States. There is need of managing these resources, in a wise manner. The prioritization of the competing needs for curb parking in urban centers of the United States depends highly on the set prices. This is because the wise management of parking resources and curb spaces is important for achieving economic development and wider transportation goals. In addition, availability of parking spaces is one of the key contributors to the economic health and can aid in reducing effects on residential neighborhoods. Similarly, excessive parking diverts private and public resources from benefits of other community and subsidized curb parking can impact the reform planning goals negatively. Therefore, setting the right policies can enable the achievement of economic development and wider transportation goals. For instance, according to this article, the city council of Redwood City set some performance goals. One of these goals was targeting an 85 percent occupancy rate. The council also gave its staff the responsibility of adjusting parking prices in order to achieve this occupancy target (33). Parking reformation means abandoning bad policies and implementing good ones. The author of this article suggests that the minimum parking requirement should be repealed because it is a bad policy. The author adds that there are two major problems that influence cities to repeal parking requirements. (1) They prevent infill redevelopments making parking expensive and difficult. (2) They prevent the use of many old buildings that don’t have parking spaces. It is good to support the removal of these requirements because when removed, many businesses will be free to provide the parking space they like. Further, removing these requirements does not mean restricting parking spaces. On top of that, the need for curb parking is based on the usage and land development intensity. It is, therefore, essential to ensure that there is the right space for parking. This is because, reserving a very big parking space wastes the resources that can be used for other development. Additionally, too much parking space increases road network congestion. However, too small parking space can negatively affect the access to various areas as well as reducing livability for tenants and business, patrons, and tenants’ marketability. Both too big and too small parking areas are harmful economic health and vitality of an area. Management policies should, therefore, be cognizant with the urban development in the United States. They should also be tailored so that they are compatible with the needs of the areas they are implemented to operate. The appropriate parking space is based on several factors like transportation options, existing land uses, street capacity, and the set goals. There is also need to change the parking over time and periodically evaluate and adjust the parking policies and regulations. Moreover, minimum parking requirements hinter restoration of old buildings because they hardly have the new parking requirements. A good example is the Spring Street of Los Angeles, which has the country’s largest collection of unused old buildings (34). This reflection paper also agrees with the argument that people should be charged for their parking as they are charged for tires, gasoline, and their cars (35). It is true that there is need for quiet change in parking policies. There is quiet revolution that has been taking place in planning of the United States. Traditional parking solutions such as “free on-street meters” have various consequences that may worsen parking problems in the United States. For instance, free parking can result in low parking space turnover. Urban centers need to really investigate deeply at metered parking. Configuration of parking meters can encourage parking turnover. Another negative effect of free parking is that drivers will start cruising on the streets looking for free parking areas instead of parking in costly parking ramps. Drivers who fail to get these free spaces end up being frustrated and he or she may cause an accident. Apart from this, cruising can dramatically increase the rate of traffic in urban centers. Instead, it can be suggested that cities should balance off-street and on-street parking charges to match parking demand. For instance, cities should be encouraged to increase on-street parking charges for convenient parking and reduce charges for off-street for penny pinchers who want to walk. The current parking reforms suggest that requirements for off-street will not disappear at a faster rate but will eventually erode. Urban centers will slowly change from minimum parking requirements without anticipating that the past policies were completely wrong. No matter what will happen, the notion that one can park for free easily in some urban centers will erode slowly (35). Given that there is a quiet change in parking policies, I would suggest that parking concerns should be listed as one of the sure things that cities should first put more focus. Conclusion In conclusion, the content of this article is of much help for urban governments that think that parking reform is impossible.It is true that parking reform is possible according to the author of this article only that the entire planning of urban development requires a lot of research and analysis, consultation strategic thinking, architecture, policy recommendation, policy/plans implementation, management, and urban design. In addition, the reforms should be set in a manner that they are compatible with the parking demand of the cities. Also, it is suggested that management policies should be cognizant with the urban development in the United States. Works cited Levy, John M. Contemporary urban planning. Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009. Shoup, Donald. "Yes, Parking Reform Is Possible~." (2011). Read More