On Portland’s East Side, a Sea of Empty Parking and a Plan to Change It
There's no blight like a surface parking lot in the middle of downtown -- especially an empty one. And no city is safe apparently.
Portland is wrestling with the parking issue on its Central Eastside -- a major employment district.
Portland Transport has the details:
Sarah Mirk has an interesting piece in this week's Mercury in which she talks about the proposed parking plan for the Central Eastside (including some metering, which of course, everyone loves).
But the fascinating part is the amount of parking that exists in the district. She documents 400+ parking lots with 14,000+ spaces. Only 8% of that is open to the public, and 40% of it is vacant at peak hours. What a wasted resource! And then we fight over the available on-street parking.
Some of this is a function of a societal attitude that parking (which is VERY expensive to build, and chews up a tremendous amount of valuable real estate) must be free. Any time we take an expensive commodity and treat it like it doesn't cost anything, there are bound to be negative effects.
But some of this is the result of zoning. The zoning code defines parking in a lot of zones to be 'accessory' to the main use - i.e., I can park in the medical office parking lot if I'm going to the medical office, but they are NOT free to rent spaces (even if they have an excess) to a neighboring business.
Sounds like a lot of those parking lots could be shared between businesses, freeing up space to put to more productive use.
Elsewhere on the Network today: Reconnecting America looks at a study examining how low-income households manage transportation costs. Hard Drive investigates whether TriMet board members use transit. And Greater Greater Washington wonders whether business attire rules for federal employees discourage active transportation.
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog USA
Tuesday’s Headlines Triple the Fun
Amtrak is staffing up and ready to spend the $66 billion it received from the bipartisan federal infrastructure law.
Pols: Congress Must Bolster Sustainable Commutes to Reduce Carbon and Congestion
The feds should bolster sustainable commuting modes and transportation demand management strategies.
Monday’s Headlines Are All About Pete
From trying to avert a government shutdown to promoting rail safety, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is in the midst of a busy week.
What is the Life of a Dead Pedestrian Worth?
A Seattle police officer sparked outrage when he joked that the death of pedestrian Jaahnavi Kandula might be settled for as little as $11,000. Some families get even less.
Why Reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled Matters
“Our job now is to prioritize solutions that mitigate the impacts of climate change while equitably improving quality of life. To do so we need to rethink how we build so Californians can drive less."
