Parking no longer free on Saturdays in MoCo lots starting 7/8/23

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The entitlement from car owners on display in this thread. Unreal.

It's the suburbs..

Move if you don't like it. No one wants your eat in a cage lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Except moco is a city, dumba$$.

You clowns keep trying to turn suburbia into a concrete jungle like NYC, when it will never work. So yea, it will take 4 hours to do a handful of errands it'd take 45 minutes to do by car because you could never build busses, trains and bike paths to cover the whole area and have the system running with minimal waiting times while having it be economically viable. Such delusional nonsense.

I need to take fluffy to the vet, get a gallon of milk, and drop stop at FedEx to drop a package off for delivery. Lol, good luck doing that by bus. Hope you got 6 hours to piss away.

So there are actually a lot of neighborhood shopping centers that have grocery stores, vets, and/or shipping storefronts, in walking distance of where a lot of people live, right here in Montgomery County. It also seems foolishly time-consuming and wasteful to transport yourself all the way to the store by SUV, and then transport yourself and a gallon of milk back home by SUV, unless the store is very close by, in which case it's...in walking distance!

But everything is always impossible when a person is bound and determined to make it impossible.

No sense reasoning with these anti-growth NIMBYs, they only care about their own way of life and expect us to pay for it.

MoCo is almost double the land area of NYC with 1/8th or so the population, yet urbanist morons and cyclists like you have insanely stupid visions of getting NYC density in the suburbs, as if everything will become magically walkable, bikable, and accessible with public transit in a reasonable amount of time.

Lol, this idea is pure pie in the sky nonsense. Areas are much larger with not enough population density to support all of the spending you'd have to do to build 1000 more transit stops by rail. It's so stupid it is laughable.

You have to drive in the suburbs. We live in the US. MoCo is not NYC. It will never be NYC. We don't live with density like Tokyo, Hong Kong or Seoul. Comparing life in those areas to life in the burbs is so dumb. Yes, it would take inordinate amounts of time to run errands because everything a scattered all over a much larger area with less people. That means less lines run, and there's not enough people to make any similar styles of transit in NY or Tokyo economically viable.

Cars it is.

You are convincing literally nobody with your nonsensical rants, dude.

Look, we know you’re a cyclist stuck in a crappy apartment that costs $3000+ a month and are angry you can’t afford a home. Don’t take your failings out on the rest of us who choose to live in the burbs on purpose to have more space. Just because you’re stuck in an apartment and have a lifestyle boxed into 300 soft of space doesn’t mean everyone else wants your rat in a cage lifestyle. If you hate the burbs and driving so much then move already. Stop trying to take other peoples’ space to try to turn the burbs into nyc.

Rich coming from someone who is angry he can't afford to pay $3/hour to park

Nice self own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But charging for parking doesn’t enhance other characteristics. Maybe it’s easier to find a spot when you pay for parking, but maybe it’s harder. Maybe there’s a particular store you like where they charge a parking fee, maybe there are 2 stores you like even better where parking’s free. The point is that there are an infinite number of variables to balance and people will prioritize those variables differently. Charging for parking introduces a negative variable into the associated locations. That variable may have minimal importance for you, but other people may feel differently. If you could hypothetically contrive two identical locations, differing only by parking charge, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who considered it a positive deciding factor. You may only be able to think of a few times you chose between two equal destinations based on whether it cost money to park, but I will generally avoid it whenever possible. Not only do I consider it a pointless waste of money, I consider it particularly galling to be charged for the privilege of patronizing someplace. If they’re going to charge me for bringing them business, I’ll take my money elsewhere.

So do. As you say, people make decisions about where to go based on all kinds of things. Not everything has to be for you. If you refuse to go out to eat in downtown Bethesda because you don't want to pay $1-2 an hour to keep your car in a municipal parking garage, well, there are plenty of other places for you to eat, or you can stay home and cook.

And so I do. But what has charging for parking accomplished? Do I drive less? No, if anything I drive more. Instead of going to the closest restaurant I like, I’ll drive further to one I like that doesn’t charge parking. The only difference is that the restaurant I would have gone to before they implemented the parking charge has lost my business. It’s good news for my new restaurant choice, but the charge hurt the local business.

Great, that works for your. And it makes sense as you are not passing on the externalities to us. Taking responsibility, nice!

And no, the change doesn't hurt local biz. Any place that is considering this obviously knows most of their customers can get there without parking. Not that hard to understand champ.

Except in this case it wasn’t the businesses that decided and it wasn’t because parking was scarce. The county decided to charge more just because they could.

They should charge market-rate, so the space (owned by the tax-paying public) is most optimally used, not given away to car owning freeloaders.

The county garages in Bethesda are underutilized so market rate is less than what they charge now.

Agreed, there is way too much parking in downtown Bethesda. It would be great if some of it could be converted to more productive use.

There's already tons and tons and tons of empty office space in Bethesda because the county has anemic economic growth. Why target parking garages when there is tons of available office space no one is using because doing business in the county is so difficult?

Hey, how about converting empty office space AND empty parking space to more productive use? There's no need for either/or, we can do both!

Also, no, that's not why there's empty office space in downtown Bethesda. All of the downtowns in the US are having the same issues.

Also, ask yourself why there is so much decay in downtowns across the country - because people are showing they prefer to live in the burbs for more space and don't mind driving everywhere! People generally do not like living in jam packed, cramped spaces that are concrete jungles.

While there is decay across downtowns across the country, Bethesda's vacancy problems go back years.....long before covid. The county kills jobs and has anemic economic growth. You can tout walkability, bike lanes, busses, trains, and highly dense housing all you want, bit of the lions share of the tax base leaves because there are no jobs or better opportunities elsewhere, no one is going to pay for all of that pie in the sky infrastructure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But charging for parking doesn’t enhance other characteristics. Maybe it’s easier to find a spot when you pay for parking, but maybe it’s harder. Maybe there’s a particular store you like where they charge a parking fee, maybe there are 2 stores you like even better where parking’s free. The point is that there are an infinite number of variables to balance and people will prioritize those variables differently. Charging for parking introduces a negative variable into the associated locations. That variable may have minimal importance for you, but other people may feel differently. If you could hypothetically contrive two identical locations, differing only by parking charge, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who considered it a positive deciding factor. You may only be able to think of a few times you chose between two equal destinations based on whether it cost money to park, but I will generally avoid it whenever possible. Not only do I consider it a pointless waste of money, I consider it particularly galling to be charged for the privilege of patronizing someplace. If they’re going to charge me for bringing them business, I’ll take my money elsewhere.

So do. As you say, people make decisions about where to go based on all kinds of things. Not everything has to be for you. If you refuse to go out to eat in downtown Bethesda because you don't want to pay $1-2 an hour to keep your car in a municipal parking garage, well, there are plenty of other places for you to eat, or you can stay home and cook.

And so I do. But what has charging for parking accomplished? Do I drive less? No, if anything I drive more. Instead of going to the closest restaurant I like, I’ll drive further to one I like that doesn’t charge parking. The only difference is that the restaurant I would have gone to before they implemented the parking charge has lost my business. It’s good news for my new restaurant choice, but the charge hurt the local business.

Great, that works for your. And it makes sense as you are not passing on the externalities to us. Taking responsibility, nice!

And no, the change doesn't hurt local biz. Any place that is considering this obviously knows most of their customers can get there without parking. Not that hard to understand champ.

Except in this case it wasn’t the businesses that decided and it wasn’t because parking was scarce. The county decided to charge more just because they could.

They should charge market-rate, so the space (owned by the tax-paying public) is most optimally used, not given away to car owning freeloaders.

The county garages in Bethesda are underutilized so market rate is less than what they charge now.

Agreed, there is way too much parking in downtown Bethesda. It would be great if some of it could be converted to more productive use.

There's already tons and tons and tons of empty office space in Bethesda because the county has anemic economic growth. Why target parking garages when there is tons of available office space no one is using because doing business in the county is so difficult?

Hey, how about converting empty office space AND empty parking space to more productive use? There's no need for either/or, we can do both!

Also, no, that's not why there's empty office space in downtown Bethesda. All of the downtowns in the US are having the same issues.

Also, ask yourself why there is so much decay in downtowns across the country - because people are showing they prefer to live in the burbs for more space and don't mind driving everywhere! People generally do not like living in jam packed, cramped spaces that are concrete jungles.

While there is decay across downtowns across the country, Bethesda's vacancy problems go back years.....long before covid. The county kills jobs and has anemic economic growth. You can tout walkability, bike lanes, busses, trains, and highly dense housing all you want, bit of the lions share of the tax base leaves because there are no jobs or better opportunities elsewhere, no one is going to pay for all of that pie in the sky infrastructure.

Have you considered watching Fox News less?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But charging for parking doesn’t enhance other characteristics. Maybe it’s easier to find a spot when you pay for parking, but maybe it’s harder. Maybe there’s a particular store you like where they charge a parking fee, maybe there are 2 stores you like even better where parking’s free. The point is that there are an infinite number of variables to balance and people will prioritize those variables differently. Charging for parking introduces a negative variable into the associated locations. That variable may have minimal importance for you, but other people may feel differently. If you could hypothetically contrive two identical locations, differing only by parking charge, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who considered it a positive deciding factor. You may only be able to think of a few times you chose between two equal destinations based on whether it cost money to park, but I will generally avoid it whenever possible. Not only do I consider it a pointless waste of money, I consider it particularly galling to be charged for the privilege of patronizing someplace. If they’re going to charge me for bringing them business, I’ll take my money elsewhere.

So do. As you say, people make decisions about where to go based on all kinds of things. Not everything has to be for you. If you refuse to go out to eat in downtown Bethesda because you don't want to pay $1-2 an hour to keep your car in a municipal parking garage, well, there are plenty of other places for you to eat, or you can stay home and cook.

And so I do. But what has charging for parking accomplished? Do I drive less? No, if anything I drive more. Instead of going to the closest restaurant I like, I’ll drive further to one I like that doesn’t charge parking. The only difference is that the restaurant I would have gone to before they implemented the parking charge has lost my business. It’s good news for my new restaurant choice, but the charge hurt the local business.

Great, that works for your. And it makes sense as you are not passing on the externalities to us. Taking responsibility, nice!

And no, the change doesn't hurt local biz. Any place that is considering this obviously knows most of their customers can get there without parking. Not that hard to understand champ.

Except in this case it wasn’t the businesses that decided and it wasn’t because parking was scarce. The county decided to charge more just because they could.

They should charge market-rate, so the space (owned by the tax-paying public) is most optimally used, not given away to car owning freeloaders.

The county garages in Bethesda are underutilized so market rate is less than what they charge now.

Agreed, there is way too much parking in downtown Bethesda. It would be great if some of it could be converted to more productive use.

There's already tons and tons and tons of empty office space in Bethesda because the county has anemic economic growth. Why target parking garages when there is tons of available office space no one is using because doing business in the county is so difficult?

Hey, how about converting empty office space AND empty parking space to more productive use? There's no need for either/or, we can do both!

Also, no, that's not why there's empty office space in downtown Bethesda. All of the downtowns in the US are having the same issues.

The stupidity of this idea is the fact that no one is going to move to coveted office spaces, etc. if there are no jobs! That's what you urbanists always ignore. The county is so bad at growing the economy and creating new jobs and businesses that no amount of affordable housing or new apartments will solve anything. No one wants to move where there are no jobs.

There are no jobs in Montgomery County, lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But charging for parking doesn’t enhance other characteristics. Maybe it’s easier to find a spot when you pay for parking, but maybe it’s harder. Maybe there’s a particular store you like where they charge a parking fee, maybe there are 2 stores you like even better where parking’s free. The point is that there are an infinite number of variables to balance and people will prioritize those variables differently. Charging for parking introduces a negative variable into the associated locations. That variable may have minimal importance for you, but other people may feel differently. If you could hypothetically contrive two identical locations, differing only by parking charge, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who considered it a positive deciding factor. You may only be able to think of a few times you chose between two equal destinations based on whether it cost money to park, but I will generally avoid it whenever possible. Not only do I consider it a pointless waste of money, I consider it particularly galling to be charged for the privilege of patronizing someplace. If they’re going to charge me for bringing them business, I’ll take my money elsewhere.

So do. As you say, people make decisions about where to go based on all kinds of things. Not everything has to be for you. If you refuse to go out to eat in downtown Bethesda because you don't want to pay $1-2 an hour to keep your car in a municipal parking garage, well, there are plenty of other places for you to eat, or you can stay home and cook.

And so I do. But what has charging for parking accomplished? Do I drive less? No, if anything I drive more. Instead of going to the closest restaurant I like, I’ll drive further to one I like that doesn’t charge parking. The only difference is that the restaurant I would have gone to before they implemented the parking charge has lost my business. It’s good news for my new restaurant choice, but the charge hurt the local business.

Great, that works for your. And it makes sense as you are not passing on the externalities to us. Taking responsibility, nice!

And no, the change doesn't hurt local biz. Any place that is considering this obviously knows most of their customers can get there without parking. Not that hard to understand champ.

Except in this case it wasn’t the businesses that decided and it wasn’t because parking was scarce. The county decided to charge more just because they could.

They should charge market-rate, so the space (owned by the tax-paying public) is most optimally used, not given away to car owning freeloaders.

The county garages in Bethesda are underutilized so market rate is less than what they charge now.

Agreed, there is way too much parking in downtown Bethesda. It would be great if some of it could be converted to more productive use.

There's already tons and tons and tons of empty office space in Bethesda because the county has anemic economic growth. Why target parking garages when there is tons of available office space no one is using because doing business in the county is so difficult?

Hey, how about converting empty office space AND empty parking space to more productive use? There's no need for either/or, we can do both!

Also, no, that's not why there's empty office space in downtown Bethesda. All of the downtowns in the US are having the same issues.

Also, ask yourself why there is so much decay in downtowns across the country - because people are showing they prefer to live in the burbs for more space and don't mind driving everywhere! People generally do not like living in jam packed, cramped spaces that are concrete jungles.

While there is decay across downtowns across the country, Bethesda's vacancy problems go back years.....long before covid. The county kills jobs and has anemic economic growth. You can tout walkability, bike lanes, busses, trains, and highly dense housing all you want, bit of the lions share of the tax base leaves because there are no jobs or better opportunities elsewhere, no one is going to pay for all of that pie in the sky infrastructure.

Have you considered watching Fox News less?

Have you considered eating less shrooms and smoking less weed between your tattoo and bicycle wheel truing appointments?

You like your apartment lifestyle. Not everyone else is turned on to that kind of density.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But charging for parking doesn’t enhance other characteristics. Maybe it’s easier to find a spot when you pay for parking, but maybe it’s harder. Maybe there’s a particular store you like where they charge a parking fee, maybe there are 2 stores you like even better where parking’s free. The point is that there are an infinite number of variables to balance and people will prioritize those variables differently. Charging for parking introduces a negative variable into the associated locations. That variable may have minimal importance for you, but other people may feel differently. If you could hypothetically contrive two identical locations, differing only by parking charge, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who considered it a positive deciding factor. You may only be able to think of a few times you chose between two equal destinations based on whether it cost money to park, but I will generally avoid it whenever possible. Not only do I consider it a pointless waste of money, I consider it particularly galling to be charged for the privilege of patronizing someplace. If they’re going to charge me for bringing them business, I’ll take my money elsewhere.

So do. As you say, people make decisions about where to go based on all kinds of things. Not everything has to be for you. If you refuse to go out to eat in downtown Bethesda because you don't want to pay $1-2 an hour to keep your car in a municipal parking garage, well, there are plenty of other places for you to eat, or you can stay home and cook.

And so I do. But what has charging for parking accomplished? Do I drive less? No, if anything I drive more. Instead of going to the closest restaurant I like, I’ll drive further to one I like that doesn’t charge parking. The only difference is that the restaurant I would have gone to before they implemented the parking charge has lost my business. It’s good news for my new restaurant choice, but the charge hurt the local business.

Great, that works for your. And it makes sense as you are not passing on the externalities to us. Taking responsibility, nice!

And no, the change doesn't hurt local biz. Any place that is considering this obviously knows most of their customers can get there without parking. Not that hard to understand champ.

Except in this case it wasn’t the businesses that decided and it wasn’t because parking was scarce. The county decided to charge more just because they could.

They should charge market-rate, so the space (owned by the tax-paying public) is most optimally used, not given away to car owning freeloaders.

The county garages in Bethesda are underutilized so market rate is less than what they charge now.

Agreed, there is way too much parking in downtown Bethesda. It would be great if some of it could be converted to more productive use.

There's already tons and tons and tons of empty office space in Bethesda because the county has anemic economic growth. Why target parking garages when there is tons of available office space no one is using because doing business in the county is so difficult?

Hey, how about converting empty office space AND empty parking space to more productive use? There's no need for either/or, we can do both!

Also, no, that's not why there's empty office space in downtown Bethesda. All of the downtowns in the US are having the same issues.

Also, ask yourself why there is so much decay in downtowns across the country - because people are showing they prefer to live in the burbs for more space and don't mind driving everywhere! People generally do not like living in jam packed, cramped spaces that are concrete jungles.

While there is decay across downtowns across the country, Bethesda's vacancy problems go back years.....long before covid. The county kills jobs and has anemic economic growth. You can tout walkability, bike lanes, busses, trains, and highly dense housing all you want, bit of the lions share of the tax base leaves because there are no jobs or better opportunities elsewhere, no one is going to pay for all of that pie in the sky infrastructure.

Has anyone ever seen a bike in the new bike lanes on Old Georgetown? I think I've seen one bicyclist.

You can see how many people fled cities for suburbs/exurbs during Covid. Being near the city is great until it's completely closed down and you're now stuck for months on end in a small space and no yard, with kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But charging for parking doesn’t enhance other characteristics. Maybe it’s easier to find a spot when you pay for parking, but maybe it’s harder. Maybe there’s a particular store you like where they charge a parking fee, maybe there are 2 stores you like even better where parking’s free. The point is that there are an infinite number of variables to balance and people will prioritize those variables differently. Charging for parking introduces a negative variable into the associated locations. That variable may have minimal importance for you, but other people may feel differently. If you could hypothetically contrive two identical locations, differing only by parking charge, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who considered it a positive deciding factor. You may only be able to think of a few times you chose between two equal destinations based on whether it cost money to park, but I will generally avoid it whenever possible. Not only do I consider it a pointless waste of money, I consider it particularly galling to be charged for the privilege of patronizing someplace. If they’re going to charge me for bringing them business, I’ll take my money elsewhere.

So do. As you say, people make decisions about where to go based on all kinds of things. Not everything has to be for you. If you refuse to go out to eat in downtown Bethesda because you don't want to pay $1-2 an hour to keep your car in a municipal parking garage, well, there are plenty of other places for you to eat, or you can stay home and cook.

And so I do. But what has charging for parking accomplished? Do I drive less? No, if anything I drive more. Instead of going to the closest restaurant I like, I’ll drive further to one I like that doesn’t charge parking. The only difference is that the restaurant I would have gone to before they implemented the parking charge has lost my business. It’s good news for my new restaurant choice, but the charge hurt the local business.

Great, that works for your. And it makes sense as you are not passing on the externalities to us. Taking responsibility, nice!

And no, the change doesn't hurt local biz. Any place that is considering this obviously knows most of their customers can get there without parking. Not that hard to understand champ.

Except in this case it wasn’t the businesses that decided and it wasn’t because parking was scarce. The county decided to charge more just because they could.

They should charge market-rate, so the space (owned by the tax-paying public) is most optimally used, not given away to car owning freeloaders.

The county garages in Bethesda are underutilized so market rate is less than what they charge now.

Agreed, there is way too much parking in downtown Bethesda. It would be great if some of it could be converted to more productive use.

There's already tons and tons and tons of empty office space in Bethesda because the county has anemic economic growth. Why target parking garages when there is tons of available office space no one is using because doing business in the county is so difficult?

Hey, how about converting empty office space AND empty parking space to more productive use? There's no need for either/or, we can do both!

Also, no, that's not why there's empty office space in downtown Bethesda. All of the downtowns in the US are having the same issues.

The stupidity of this idea is the fact that no one is going to move to coveted office spaces, etc. if there are no jobs! That's what you urbanists always ignore. The county is so bad at growing the economy and creating new jobs and businesses that no amount of affordable housing or new apartments will solve anything. No one wants to move where there are no jobs.

There are no jobs in Montgomery County, lol.

MoCo loses tons of jobs and businesses to NoVa. MoCo losses jobs and growth to even other counties in MD now:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/prince-georges-has-overtaken-montgomery-as-top-job-creator-in-maryland-suburbs/2020/01/19/218c3646-38b6-11ea-bf30-ad313e4ec754_story.html

Keep on drinking the council's Koolaid and enjoy never ending tax hikes because of no economic growth. Again, who is going to pay for all of these delusional infrastructure projects if the bulk of the taxbase leaves, which they will at the rate MoCo is going?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But charging for parking doesn’t enhance other characteristics. Maybe it’s easier to find a spot when you pay for parking, but maybe it’s harder. Maybe there’s a particular store you like where they charge a parking fee, maybe there are 2 stores you like even better where parking’s free. The point is that there are an infinite number of variables to balance and people will prioritize those variables differently. Charging for parking introduces a negative variable into the associated locations. That variable may have minimal importance for you, but other people may feel differently. If you could hypothetically contrive two identical locations, differing only by parking charge, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who considered it a positive deciding factor. You may only be able to think of a few times you chose between two equal destinations based on whether it cost money to park, but I will generally avoid it whenever possible. Not only do I consider it a pointless waste of money, I consider it particularly galling to be charged for the privilege of patronizing someplace. If they’re going to charge me for bringing them business, I’ll take my money elsewhere.

So do. As you say, people make decisions about where to go based on all kinds of things. Not everything has to be for you. If you refuse to go out to eat in downtown Bethesda because you don't want to pay $1-2 an hour to keep your car in a municipal parking garage, well, there are plenty of other places for you to eat, or you can stay home and cook.

And so I do. But what has charging for parking accomplished? Do I drive less? No, if anything I drive more. Instead of going to the closest restaurant I like, I’ll drive further to one I like that doesn’t charge parking. The only difference is that the restaurant I would have gone to before they implemented the parking charge has lost my business. It’s good news for my new restaurant choice, but the charge hurt the local business.

Great, that works for your. And it makes sense as you are not passing on the externalities to us. Taking responsibility, nice!

And no, the change doesn't hurt local biz. Any place that is considering this obviously knows most of their customers can get there without parking. Not that hard to understand champ.

Except in this case it wasn’t the businesses that decided and it wasn’t because parking was scarce. The county decided to charge more just because they could.

They should charge market-rate, so the space (owned by the tax-paying public) is most optimally used, not given away to car owning freeloaders.

The county garages in Bethesda are underutilized so market rate is less than what they charge now.

Agreed, there is way too much parking in downtown Bethesda. It would be great if some of it could be converted to more productive use.

There's already tons and tons and tons of empty office space in Bethesda because the county has anemic economic growth. Why target parking garages when there is tons of available office space no one is using because doing business in the county is so difficult?

Hey, how about converting empty office space AND empty parking space to more productive use? There's no need for either/or, we can do both!

Also, no, that's not why there's empty office space in downtown Bethesda. All of the downtowns in the US are having the same issues.

Also, ask yourself why there is so much decay in downtowns across the country - because people are showing they prefer to live in the burbs for more space and don't mind driving everywhere! People generally do not like living in jam packed, cramped spaces that are concrete jungles.

While there is decay across downtowns across the country, Bethesda's vacancy problems go back years.....long before covid. The county kills jobs and has anemic economic growth. You can tout walkability, bike lanes, busses, trains, and highly dense housing all you want, bit of the lions share of the tax base leaves because there are no jobs or better opportunities elsewhere, no one is going to pay for all of that pie in the sky infrastructure.

Has anyone ever seen a bike in the new bike lanes on Old Georgetown? I think I've seen one bicyclist.

You can see how many people fled cities for suburbs/exurbs during Covid. Being near the city is great until it's completely closed down and you're now stuck for months on end in a small space and no yard, with kids.

Please stop driving immediately, until you've gotten your vision checked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But charging for parking doesn’t enhance other characteristics. Maybe it’s easier to find a spot when you pay for parking, but maybe it’s harder. Maybe there’s a particular store you like where they charge a parking fee, maybe there are 2 stores you like even better where parking’s free. The point is that there are an infinite number of variables to balance and people will prioritize those variables differently. Charging for parking introduces a negative variable into the associated locations. That variable may have minimal importance for you, but other people may feel differently. If you could hypothetically contrive two identical locations, differing only by parking charge, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who considered it a positive deciding factor. You may only be able to think of a few times you chose between two equal destinations based on whether it cost money to park, but I will generally avoid it whenever possible. Not only do I consider it a pointless waste of money, I consider it particularly galling to be charged for the privilege of patronizing someplace. If they’re going to charge me for bringing them business, I’ll take my money elsewhere.

So do. As you say, people make decisions about where to go based on all kinds of things. Not everything has to be for you. If you refuse to go out to eat in downtown Bethesda because you don't want to pay $1-2 an hour to keep your car in a municipal parking garage, well, there are plenty of other places for you to eat, or you can stay home and cook.

And so I do. But what has charging for parking accomplished? Do I drive less? No, if anything I drive more. Instead of going to the closest restaurant I like, I’ll drive further to one I like that doesn’t charge parking. The only difference is that the restaurant I would have gone to before they implemented the parking charge has lost my business. It’s good news for my new restaurant choice, but the charge hurt the local business.

Great, that works for your. And it makes sense as you are not passing on the externalities to us. Taking responsibility, nice!

And no, the change doesn't hurt local biz. Any place that is considering this obviously knows most of their customers can get there without parking. Not that hard to understand champ.

Except in this case it wasn’t the businesses that decided and it wasn’t because parking was scarce. The county decided to charge more just because they could.

They should charge market-rate, so the space (owned by the tax-paying public) is most optimally used, not given away to car owning freeloaders.

The county garages in Bethesda are underutilized so market rate is less than what they charge now.

Agreed, there is way too much parking in downtown Bethesda. It would be great if some of it could be converted to more productive use.

There's already tons and tons and tons of empty office space in Bethesda because the county has anemic economic growth. Why target parking garages when there is tons of available office space no one is using because doing business in the county is so difficult?

Hey, how about converting empty office space AND empty parking space to more productive use? There's no need for either/or, we can do both!

Also, no, that's not why there's empty office space in downtown Bethesda. All of the downtowns in the US are having the same issues.

The stupidity of this idea is the fact that no one is going to move to coveted office spaces, etc. if there are no jobs! That's what you urbanists always ignore. The county is so bad at growing the economy and creating new jobs and businesses that no amount of affordable housing or new apartments will solve anything. No one wants to move where there are no jobs.

There are no jobs in Montgomery County, lol.

You really haven’t been paying attention. Private sector employment is declining and recovery from the pandemic is much slower here than it is in other parts of the area. Your developer heroes all realize this, which is why they’re not building much here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But charging for parking doesn’t enhance other characteristics. Maybe it’s easier to find a spot when you pay for parking, but maybe it’s harder. Maybe there’s a particular store you like where they charge a parking fee, maybe there are 2 stores you like even better where parking’s free. The point is that there are an infinite number of variables to balance and people will prioritize those variables differently. Charging for parking introduces a negative variable into the associated locations. That variable may have minimal importance for you, but other people may feel differently. If you could hypothetically contrive two identical locations, differing only by parking charge, I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone who considered it a positive deciding factor. You may only be able to think of a few times you chose between two equal destinations based on whether it cost money to park, but I will generally avoid it whenever possible. Not only do I consider it a pointless waste of money, I consider it particularly galling to be charged for the privilege of patronizing someplace. If they’re going to charge me for bringing them business, I’ll take my money elsewhere.

So do. As you say, people make decisions about where to go based on all kinds of things. Not everything has to be for you. If you refuse to go out to eat in downtown Bethesda because you don't want to pay $1-2 an hour to keep your car in a municipal parking garage, well, there are plenty of other places for you to eat, or you can stay home and cook.

And so I do. But what has charging for parking accomplished? Do I drive less? No, if anything I drive more. Instead of going to the closest restaurant I like, I’ll drive further to one I like that doesn’t charge parking. The only difference is that the restaurant I would have gone to before they implemented the parking charge has lost my business. It’s good news for my new restaurant choice, but the charge hurt the local business.

Great, that works for your. And it makes sense as you are not passing on the externalities to us. Taking responsibility, nice!

And no, the change doesn't hurt local biz. Any place that is considering this obviously knows most of their customers can get there without parking. Not that hard to understand champ.

Except in this case it wasn’t the businesses that decided and it wasn’t because parking was scarce. The county decided to charge more just because they could.

They should charge market-rate, so the space (owned by the tax-paying public) is most optimally used, not given away to car owning freeloaders.

The county garages in Bethesda are underutilized so market rate is less than what they charge now.

Agreed, there is way too much parking in downtown Bethesda. It would be great if some of it could be converted to more productive use.

There's already tons and tons and tons of empty office space in Bethesda because the county has anemic economic growth. Why target parking garages when there is tons of available office space no one is using because doing business in the county is so difficult?

Hey, how about converting empty office space AND empty parking space to more productive use? There's no need for either/or, we can do both!

Also, no, that's not why there's empty office space in downtown Bethesda. All of the downtowns in the US are having the same issues.

Also, ask yourself why there is so much decay in downtowns across the country - because people are showing they prefer to live in the burbs for more space and don't mind driving everywhere! People generally do not like living in jam packed, cramped spaces that are concrete jungles.

While there is decay across downtowns across the country, Bethesda's vacancy problems go back years.....long before covid. The county kills jobs and has anemic economic growth. You can tout walkability, bike lanes, busses, trains, and highly dense housing all you want, bit of the lions share of the tax base leaves because there are no jobs or better opportunities elsewhere, no one is going to pay for all of that pie in the sky infrastructure.

Have you considered watching Fox News less?

Have you considered eating less shrooms and smoking less weed between your tattoo and bicycle wheel truing appointments?

You like your apartment lifestyle. Not everyone else is turned on to that kind of density.

Weird comment? I'm a boring middle-aged mom with kids in MCPS, living in a detached house that I own, with zero tattoos, who has only ever eaten mushrooms from the grocery store, smoked pot a total of about 3 times in college, and last took my bike to the bike shop to get the derailleur replaced. On the other hand, I did just pay $500 for two new tires and associated costs for my car. Cars are expensive; bikes are cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entitlement from car owners on display in this thread. Unreal.

It's the suburbs..

Move if you don't like it. No one wants your eat in a cage lifestyle.

What? OP, I own two SUVs and live in a big house in Rockville. I don't want to live in a small apartment either. I just don't expect to be given free stuff - parking or anything else - as a reward for that lifestyle. I own two cars and pay for parking in places I need it. I don't need a handout for that. I have a big lawn and pay someone to cut it. I don't need a handout for that. What I am mystified by is my suburban colleagues who think that someone else should pay for their lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entitlement from car owners on display in this thread. Unreal.

It's the suburbs..

Move if you don't like it. No one wants your eat in a cage lifestyle.

What? OP, I own two SUVs and live in a big house in Rockville. I don't want to live in a small apartment either. I just don't expect to be given free stuff - parking or anything else - as a reward for that lifestyle. I own two cars and pay for parking in places I need it. I don't need a handout for that. I have a big lawn and pay someone to cut it. I don't need a handout for that. What I am mystified by is my suburban colleagues who think that someone else should pay for their lifestyle.

But not everyone can easily afford it. You're assuming everyone who uses these parking garages has extra money, esp. in this economy. Think of the house painter living in Silver Spring who has to park in one of these garages to take their kid to the dentist on a Saturday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entitlement from car owners on display in this thread. Unreal.

It's the suburbs..

Move if you don't like it. No one wants your eat in a cage lifestyle.

What? OP, I own two SUVs and live in a big house in Rockville. I don't want to live in a small apartment either. I just don't expect to be given free stuff - parking or anything else - as a reward for that lifestyle. I own two cars and pay for parking in places I need it. I don't need a handout for that. I have a big lawn and pay someone to cut it. I don't need a handout for that. What I am mystified by is my suburban colleagues who think that someone else should pay for their lifestyle.

But not everyone can easily afford it. You're assuming everyone who uses these parking garages has extra money, esp. in this economy. Think of the house painter living in Silver Spring who has to park in one of these garages to take their kid to the dentist on a Saturday.

All of the restaurant staff who are getting a $2/hr pay cut on saturdays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entitlement from car owners on display in this thread. Unreal.

It's the suburbs..

Move if you don't like it. No one wants your eat in a cage lifestyle.

What? OP, I own two SUVs and live in a big house in Rockville. I don't want to live in a small apartment either. I just don't expect to be given free stuff - parking or anything else - as a reward for that lifestyle. I own two cars and pay for parking in places I need it. I don't need a handout for that. I have a big lawn and pay someone to cut it. I don't need a handout for that. What I am mystified by is my suburban colleagues who think that someone else should pay for their lifestyle.

But not everyone can easily afford it. You're assuming everyone who uses these parking garages has extra money, esp. in this economy. Think of the house painter living in Silver Spring who has to park in one of these garages to take their kid to the dentist on a Saturday.

Dude, read an econ book. The money has to come from somewhere. Hint: taxes. You think just because you don't pay for a garage it's actually just "free" and built/maintained by jesus or something?

Lol. You must be a troll account. Nobody can be this stupid.