Finding on-street parking in Chicago’s most dense retail districts is a daunting task, but according to Professor Donald Shoup, author of The High Cost of Free Parking, it does not have to be that way.
Finding on-street parking in Chicago’s most dense retail districts is
a daunting task, but according to Donald Shoup, a professor at the University
of California-Los Angeles, and author of
The High Cost of Free Parking
, it
does not have to
be that way.
At a recent event hosted by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Chicago
Metropolis 2020, Congress for the New Urbanism, and Metropolitan Planning
Council, Shoup presented an innovative strategy that promotes the implementation
of parking improvement districts (PIDs) as a means of eliminating on-street
parking and traffic circulation challenges.
The solution relies on
a market-based pricing system commonly employed by private garage operators.
Shoup advocates that in order to achieve an adequate and convenient
parking environment in dense retail districts, parking meter fees should be adjusted
to a rate that creates a 15 to 20 percent vacancy. This may seem
counterintuitive, but by creating a small parking surplus through a market rate pricing
system, cars entering the participating district would have a convenient place to
park, and traffic congestion caused by would-be parkers trolling for space would be
mitigated. Furthermore, successful implementation of PIDs increase the viability
of participating retail districts by generating a new source of revenue that is
earmarked solely for the purpose of making aesthetic improvements within the
district.
In fact, Shoup credits PIDs for
the transformation of Pasadena, Calif.’s historic shopping district from its
former skid row status to one of Southern California’s premier destinations.
With the implementation of a PID in 1993, the district’s 690 meters generated
$1.2 million in revenue in fiscal year 2001. Those profits were earmarked for
aesthetic improvements within the district that were infeasible without the
revenue generated by PIDs. Moreover, district retailers experienced an increase
in business that is reflected by comparing the $500,000 sales tax generated in
1993 to the more than $2 million generated in 1999.
Chicago, like most cities, addresses its
anticipated parking needs through zoning. Yet, it has not successfully developed
the type of parking environment that addresses planners’ recommendations for
creating viable districts and retailers’ goals of providing adequate and
convenient parking. Solving the parking challenges in Chicago’s most dense
retail districts requires an innovative solution that meets the needs of all
affected parties. MPC looks forward to exploring PIDs and other solutions that
could potentially eliminate on-street parking challenges.