Now bike storage is hip, too!

Yesterday I wrote about how bicycles are the hippest thing since sliced bread. Now, bike storage is becoming equally hip!

I like the dog best.

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Two Takes on Parking

Personally, I don't understand the need for requiring developers to build parking. They're going to build what they need to sell or rent the place. You don't need to regulate business to protect business.

I have mixed feelings about limiting the construction of new spaces, so I'll sit on the sidelines of that discussion for now and just pass on these two recent articles:

1. Tacoma just finished a comprehensive look at their Downtown parking.

The preliminary recommendation, said committee chairman Marty Campbell, is likely to call for installation of the 21st-century version of the parking meter – electronic kiosks that spit out parking receipts that are attached to the inside of curbside windows for parking checkers to see. The system would be similar to one used in much of downtown Seattle and Portland.

The parking recommendations are the first baby steps in what could become a much larger and more ambitious plan to radically change the pattern of downtown commuting from one dominated by single-occupancy vehicle trips – 76 percent now – to one that relies more on transit, car pools, walking and biking to bring downtown workers to their offices.

2. The New York Sun reported that efforts to limit parking may slow development.

One proposed policy to reduce the increase in vehicles is to do away with zoning regulations that require new developments to contain a minimum number of built-in parking spots, ranging from 0.4 to one car a housing unit. Instead, the city would replace the requirements with a maximum limit on the number of parking spots based on how close the building is to bus and subway stops.

While proponents of the move say it would encourage tenants to ditch their vehicles, some are arguing that a cap on parking spots would be a drag on the city's housing market and tax base.

The CEO of the Partnership for New York City, Kathryn Wylde, said enacting a limit on parking would make it more difficult to attract tenants to developments in the boroughs other than Manhattan, where mass transit is sometimes scarce. Manhattan already has parking limits in place in most areas.

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Bikes enjoy popularity, banned from convention

Bikes (non-motorized and otherwise) are the hottest thing since sliced bread this week. They're popular with bankers, Indians and tween superstars.

And, even though they didn't need it, bikes received an extra boost with Washington, D.C. launching their bike-sharing program. So now that bicycles are becoming mainstream, who do you think is jumping on board the trend? You guessed it: national politicians.

1000 bikes will be provided for free at each of the conventions. However, the bikes will be of limited use at least at the Democratic Convention.

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Boise jumps on the Streetcar Express

Taking a lesson from Portland, Boise moves a step closer to implementing streetcars. The Boise Weekly article on the subject emphasizes how such a move can help continue Downtown Revitalization and promote mixed-use development.

Boise has been working hard to create a traditional city core, but they've had to fight a state legislature every step of the way that considers itself conservative and consistently complains about the Federal Government butting into Idaho's affairs, but has little interest in actually following through on giving local control to Idaho's cities.

Think what a community like Boise, which clearly has its share of visionaries, might be able to do if it actually had the kind of power most major cities do - but that's a different post.

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Streetcars Desired

There was a time, even in tiny North Idaho towns like Sandpoint, when nearly every City had a streetcar. They were objects of civic pride and in the few places where they were preserved (like San Francisco and Nelson, British Columbia) they continue to be celebrated.

Portland has had tremendous success with the streetcar system they introduced in 2001 and public transit is increasingly in vogue.

So why not bring them back?

Well, the $132 million price tag connected to Cincinnati's return to the streetcar is one concern. In fact, really cost (as always) is the only major difficulty.

To me, living in a town where a $100 million byway is a bygone conclusion to help a County of only 40,000 get around, a few extra million for a much larger population seems like a fairly reasonable proposition.

As for the guy at the Cato Institute complaining of subsidies, I wonder where he is on all the subsidies (in bridges, roads, extra lanes, free parking, etc) we give to cars? Perhaps he's against those as well, but I doubt it.

Why is it that subsidies are fine when they fund a transportation option that keeps all of us in our own separate, but "equal" compartments, but somehow it's never okay to put money into a system where all of us would truly have an equal opportunity to benefit?

The anti-streetcar position only baffles me further when you consider the fact that it's not some sort of new fangled, new wave idea. After all, once upon time we all had streetcars. Frankly, that's a fairy tale we'd be lucky to return to.

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