Three reasons to feature this on Price Tags:
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(1) Chris Bruntlett asked me to. He’s a contributor to a mag/blog called Hush, and I like getting contributions. (This blog must be fed, people.)
(2) Hush looks intriguing – “Raw Honest Local” – and Chris’s piece is about parking and biking and stuff, and so, well, obviously …
(3) I agree with it.
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Last line: “We must dare to dream; and ask ourselves whether we truly want to live, work and play in a parking lot?”
First line starts here.
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Bonus link: “By coincidence, CBC radio aired a related documentary program yesterday:”
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Listen hear – and hush.
As a bit of a follow up, a notice was posted outside of my apartment building this week: pic.twitter.com/r59rbNS7. As is customary this time of year, the City of Vancouver offers annual parking permits to residents in the area for just $38.75. That is unlimited on-street parking, within blocks of Broadway Station, for around 10 cents a day. It’s no wonder my neighbours balk at the $50/month fee charged by landlords for secure parking.
For comparison, secure parking in a condo building downtown Calgary is about $200 per month.
That parklet at Main and 14th is nothing more than a giveaway to the adjacent coffee shop at the expense of metered parking for other businesses. Though I do enjoy the sanctimony of Main Street hipsters who don’t get that Main Street wouldn’t exist as hipster heaven without parking that allows businesses to draw customers from other areas of the Metro Vancouver.
The only agreement I have with this article is on providing free off street parking for residents cars in residential areas. But then goodies like laneway houses virtually assure that residents won’t be using their own property for storing their cars.