Pensacola Parking Syndrome

One of those reason the Y was rejected at the CMP was the perceived lack of parking.  I had a conversation recently with several people and they mentioned "Pensacola Parking Syndrome". Please see the quote below as well as the NYT article referencing Pensacola Parking Syndrome.

"Actually, there is a point at which a city can satisfy its parking needs. This situation can be found in many small, older American cities and is almost always the result of the same history: at mid-century,

with automobile ownership on the rise, a charming old downtown with a wonderful pedestrian realm finds itself in need of more parking spaces. It tears down a few historic buildings and replaces them with surface parking lots, making the downtown both easier to park in and less pleasant to walk through. As more people drive, it tears down a few more buildings, with the same result. Eventually, what remains of the old

downtown becomes unpleasant enough to undermine the desire to visit, and the demand for parking is easily satisfied by the supply. This phenomenon could be called the Pensacola Parking Syndrome, in honor of

one of its victims."

--Andres Duany, "Suburban Nation." North Point Press, (c)2000, p. 162

[footnote]


The concept was highlighted in a New York Times Article last year:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/arts/design/taking-parking-lots-seriously-as-public-spaces.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


The Pensacola Parking Syndrome is a term of the trade used to describe a city that tears down its old buildings to create parking spaces to entice more people downtown, until people no longer want to go there
because it has become an empty lot. Cities should let the free market handle the construction of new parking spaces. People who buy or rent new homes can pay extra if they want someplace to park a car.
Municipalities can instead cap the maximum number of lots or the ratio of spaces to dwellings and offices.
Back in 1973 Boston instituted a successful parking freeze in concert with the Environmental Protection Agency, an approach that Los Angeles attempted to follow until Congress blocked the tactic, bouncing the ball over to city courts. Since then Cambridge, Mass., has set its own limit on parking spaces. More cities could now do the same. As for the perception that parking spots are hard to find, as if
everyplace were Midtown Manhattan, the reality is that a space may not be open precisely when and where a driver wants it. But the journal Transportation Science has shown that drivers who parked at the first
available spot and then walked to their destination on average saved considerable time (never mind savings in gasoline and anxiety) over those who cruised around until a "better" spot opened.



Unfortunately, this seems to be correct.  One of the Urban Redevelopment Advisory Committee's suggestions was to increase density downtown and bring in more people and businesses.  This should be the same idea we look at for the CMP.  We need to encourage developers and investors to build at the CMP.  One way we can do this is to work with the zoning code for the park to lessen the restriction on parking.  This would open the parcels to more structures and would bring more people to the park.