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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Touché
You made a very effective argument.

I still disagree with the idea of requiring payment for parking.  I don’t think it will discourage driving.  I do think it will encourage people to drive further to places that don’t require fees, hurting local businesses in the process.

Moreover, while I agree that it would be great to have better public transportation, especially for the poor who may not be able to afford a car, I don’t think disgruntlement over parking fees will generate a groundswell for increased investment in public transit.  I think it more likely that citizens disgruntled over taxes and fees are going to be less likely to support massive spending for public transportation infrastructure.

Finally, parking fees don’t means test.  While some people may not be able to afford a car, dependency on a car is not a guarantee of affluence.  People may need a car to juggle multiple jobs and family needs.  $3 may not seem like much to a DCUM’er, but [b]to somebody struggling with minimum wage to support a family, it may be a burden, but they may not have the leisure time to walk/ride a bicycle to the store (children in tow?) to buy groceries for their family and lug them home.[/b][/quote]

People struggling with minimum wage to support a family are already highly disproportionately likely to have to take twice as long to walk, ride a bicycle, or take a bus (children in tow?) to buy groceries for their family and lug them home, BECAUSE CARS ARE REALLY, REALLY EXPENSIVE.

If you're concerned about these families, then advocate for making it possible for them to buy groceries, conveniently, without a car.[/quote]

Yes, cars are really, really expensive, but some are less expensive than others.  If you buy a secondhand clunker that was an economy model to begin with, it expands the area you can look for a job.  It may be the only way you can juggle getting the kids to school/sitter, getting you to your job, running errands like groceries, getting someone sick to the doctor, etc. Time you have to take walking or biking is time you can’t work.  Even the best public transportation is probably less efficient than driving, unless you live in an urban center with gridlock and/or parking shortages.

Buying groceries without a car, is by definition, less convenient.  The problem is that with less money, everything becomes harder.  People who are well enough off to afford the $3, can also probably afford to pay the sitter a little longer, of have a little extra flexibility in the professional schedule, vs having to punch a time clock as an hourly worker.  They may be able to pay for services that a minimum wage worker can’t.  You can go to a restaurant, order items for home delivery, have a cleaning lady come by, or  have somebody mow your lawn.  The cook, waitress, stock clerk, cleaner, or yard worker not only has to do that service for you, they have to do all the services for their own family (although they might not have a yard of their own to maintain, what a break!).

Don’t get me wrong, I support improving public transportation.  I think the focus, however, should be on making public transportation better, not on making driving worse.  Life is hard enough without deliberately making it harder.  [/quote]

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