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Why unrestricted street parking is making your neighbourhood worse.

“I love parking meters!” —Absolutely No One Ever

Not unlike the Speed Limit Challenge, this one is another tough pill to swallow: parking restrictions make cities better.

How? Let’s dig in.

“Rock star parking” is a great feeling—pulling up to a friend’s house and parking right out front. Even better, if it’s your home, you can re-purpose your garage into a storage room and park out front. It’s easy!

But can you think of any other situation where public property is used for the unrestricted storage of private property?

Could I put a trailer out there? A greenhouse on wheels? A rolling storage unit? A boat? A private bike rack? A baby stroller?

Anything other than an insured motor vehicle?

Unrestricted street parking requires your town or city to use tax dollars to widen streets and invest in maintenance and upkeep of these areas—all for private property storage.

It also cuts down lines of sight—creating the perceived phenomenon of pedestrians “coming out of nowhere.” (They didn’t. They just stepped out from behind a parked car.)

Street parking creates congestion, often turning roads wide enough for two-way traffic into one-ways; drivers circling the block to find a spot creates congestion and unpredictable driving and it overall creates a blight on our neighbourhoods.

Neighbours fight over space they don’t own. Where there is now a handful of cars, instead there could be mini-parks; plazas with picnic tables and ping-pong tables; space for block parties; multi-use pathways; food trucks; pop-up shops; bike racks. Heck—you could just have a larger front yard.

Instead, we get free parking for a handful of residents lucky enough to score a spot.

But, of course, this is a governmental concern. You can’t personally facilitate change here—the moment you stop street parking, someone else will just scoop your space.

But you can lobby and vote.

I know, it kinda sucks to think about. But if you can look at the above photo and, in your mind’s eye, replace all those cars with greenspace, or public plazas with picnic tables or running and cycling paths… tell me it wouldn’t be better.

I bet you can’t.