State lawmakers take aim at free parking

I hate paid parking and I am sure lots of other people hate paid parking too. I can see this having an impact of local businesses.



State lawmakers take aim at free parking - latimes.com
Reporting from Sacramento - State lawmakers are taking aim at what some of them see as a menace to California's environment: free parking.

There is too much of it, the legislators say, and it encourages people to drive instead of taking the bus, walking or riding a bike. All that motoring is contributing to traffic jams and pollution, according to state Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), and on Thursday he won Senate approval of a proposal he hopes will prompt cities and businesses to reduce the availability of free parking.



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When a store provides free parking, the cost to maintain, clean, insure, secure and light the parking lot is passed on to shoppers in higher prices for goods, said Justin Horner, an analyst with the NRDC. Free street parking is paid for by the entire community in the form of higher taxes, he said.

Lowenthal said that when businesses pay for their employees' parking, more of them drive to work.

"It's nice that we've been treated to this luxury," Lowenthal said. "The problem with free parking is it's not free."

Parking lots are mostly privately owned. If owners want to charge for them, they can put up a toll booth themselves. The government shouldn't be telling them what to do. Paid parking doesn't discourage people from driving, it just makes people shell out more money in their daily lives in order to use cars.

If cars are polluting, then government should subsidize research into more fuel efficient cars, not punish people for using the only technology that's available to them.

As long as a 15 minute car ride takes an hour or more by bus, I'll be driving. Thanks.

jamesrage said:

Free street parking is paid for by the entire community in the form of higher taxes, he said.

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Boy, talk about a terminal case of cranial-rectal inversion; this guy hasn't seen daylight in a lo-o-ong time. I suggest that the city of Sacramento declare the whole city a no-parking zone, and watch what happens to the tax base. Do ya think the legislators will resort to bicycles? Or horses?

While I'm completely in favor of the general principle (i.e. having user fees replace general taxes), the goal they are setting is simply not realistic. If they want to get cars off the road, they need to provide decent public transportation. California simply does not have that...and so this idea won't work. People will still drive everywhere, they'll just drive everywhere and then get charged for it.

Decent public transport has to be funded, and it can't run effectively on car-clogged roads. London has a "congestion charge" zone in the centre of town where cameras log your car number as you enter, and send you a fine if you haven't paid by 24 hours later.
That's just to enter the zone, Parking is extra!

How it works | Transport for London

It is clear that California has become a great place to from but a place to want to be. The granola liberals, Radicals, progressives, Socialist/Communists, gay cultest freaks, RINOS, environmental fraud groups, and anti-Americans, have taken over with out a fight.

Everyone is afraid to speak out for fear of being called names by the Left who are on a march to destroy the nation and every State along the way.

A paraphrase of an old Army quote that Reagan used fits here: "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

The absolute fools in Sacramento are the dumbest so-called educated idiots to ever walk the earth.

They have taxed and regulated business out of the State and want to do more and they claim it's for or good. There was a time when there were people in positions of authority who stand up and tell the truth about these worthless pieces of garbage and there were still a few real Americans left in the State who would see to it that the wackod would be shown the door.

Too bad tar and feathers is illegal.

Councilman said:

It is clear that California has become a great place to from but a place to want to be. The granola liberals, Radicals, progressives, Socialist/Communists, gay cultest freaks, RINOS, environmental fraud groups, and anti-Americans, have taken over with out a fight.

Everyone is afraid to speak out for fear of being called names by the Left who are on a march to destroy the nation and every State along the way.

A paraphrase of an old Army quote that Reagan used fits here: "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

The absolute fools in Sacramento are the dumbest so-called educated idiots to ever walk the earth.

They have taxed and regulated business out of the State and want to do more and they claim it's for or good. There was a time when there were people in positions of authority who stand up and tell the truth about these worthless pieces of garbage and there were still a few real Americans left in the State who would see to it that the wackod would be shown the door.

Too bad tar and feathers is illegal.

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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Maz9ddxEQnM"]YouTube- The Beatles - Taxman[/ame]