Below is the testimony I offered before the Annapolis City Council on January 22 regarding Alderman Israel's bill about parking:
I support this bill to the extent that it tries to move ahead in some areas to properly address parking issues. I oppose it to the extent that it is not comprehensive enough and it does not address the challenges brought on by over a century of building in automobile over-dependence at every level of our society. We do not have a parking problem. What we have is a transportation and mobility challenge that is ultimately a perceptual problem.
I ask these questions--why are we considering a parking coordinator position before we truly have a policy about parking and a policy about transportation? Why are we considering such a position when we do not have a walking, bicycling and mobility planner/coordinator? And finally, why are we considering making this a position in the Mayor’s office, which gives our city’s CEO yet another opportunity to provide yet another job for yet another political ally?
We worry about parking because we have limited space and an overabundance of cars, yet we do not ask, why do we have an overabundance of cars? We are attempting to deal with this from the point of view of supply--that is to say the supply of parking spaces, which by their very nature are limited, so we attempt to tweak this by managing our way out, but there is no way out--except by increasing supply of parking or decreasing demand for spaces. Yet when we frame this as a parking problem, we then focus on supply and figuring either how to build more spaces or how to manage their use.
By candidly admitting that there are too many cars and that cars are the problem, we allow ourselves the opportunity to address this challenge in a variety of ways. This is not rocket science. There are numerous planning experts and scholars in this area ranging from Donald Shoup, whose book The High Cost of Free Parking has caused a stir in urban planning to Todd Littman of the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute to Dan Burden, the guru of walkability and a man who has visited here. Why do we not seek their advice, study their research and arguments that call for an overhaul of transportation and parking policies that are wrecking our cities? Why do we attempt to apply band-aids? Why do we not yet realize that what makes our city great and attractive and viable are not the cars, but the very attributes that are actually threatened by cars? I am talking about our narrow streets, our historic buildings, our alleyways and circles, our views, our waterfront and yes, our City Dock. Yet I ask, why do we waste what is arguably the most valuable real estate on the Chesapeake Bay, our City Dock, but using it as a piece of asphalt to store hunks of metal all day? The commercial growth coming to the edge of our town will never offer the Annapolis experience that our town actually does offer. Yet, as we attempt to attract residents, businesses, tourists and shoppers, we must focus on what makes the experience we have to offer as attractive as possible by reducing cars and encouraging people.
We have much to do to protect and enhance our assets that make our town unique, attractive and viable, yet we have failed to realize it is the small-town and historic nature that makes us unique and attractive and we continue to both ignore and threaten that viability. A parking coordinator, without a clear policy or mandate, serving at the pleasure of the Mayor, will quickly be at the mercy of the vocal complainers who essentially fall into two major categories and can never be satisfied. There are those who wish to allow more cars in freely and to make it easier and cheaper to move and park, and those who wish to make it harder or more costly to drive in and park. To a certain extent they are business owners versus residents as well, but it is not that simple. However, what is important are people and the mobility of people. Let’s stop fooling ourselves that it is about cars and the movement and ultimately, the waste of valuable public space and resources used for storing those cars for hours and hours and days without utility.
We have a PhD within our planning department, whose title is transportation planner. The talents of this intelligent and visionary man are rarely put to use or followed. We have a mismanaged transportation department that is quagmired in its inefficiency, squanders it resources, has been run by essentially the same people for decades, and is subject to little real oversight or supervision by any authority. Build up our downtown shuttle system if you like, but please don’t do it by giving more money and authority to the department that remains in need of the overhaul called for by Mayor Johnson ten years ago. We like to say how we are a walking friendly city, but that is true but to a limited extent. We are certainly not a bike friendly city, though we boast of hosting many local, regional and even national trails-but there are few resources for bicycling.
After much apparent secrecy and hush-hush, we have just released a voluminous Transportation Master Plan that was fraught with management, coordination and research challenges and has been published many years after data was originally collected. As I wade through that, yet another study, I continue to wonder why we cannot seem to produce the leadership that will come forward and say the goal is to increase and enhance mobility while reducing automobile dependency. That is what we need. It is not about cars and parking, it’s about people and movement. To the extent that this bill will do that, I support it. To the extent that is greatly window dressing or a band aid, creates a new position that is not needed, ignores the real policy issues, I say to reject it. And finally, to a city and a Mayor that is getting a great deal of publicity and goodwill about our supposed environmental goals and positions on global warming, let us really do something to clear our own air by reducing automobile overdependence and reducing mobile source emissions. If we are going to create a parking position and a parking board, let’s give it some teeth, some funding to really research how to really attack this issue and let’s please not politicize the office.
Let’s work to make downtown for people and not cars. Let’s focus on transportation, not parking. Let’s work to enhance transportation opportunities for everyone and let’s clean up our air here. In any event, please don’t give the Mayor’s office another politicized job to fill.
Thank you.
