A downtown store owner who says his business is being ruined by the meters was interviewed by the duo, who specifically targeted Fulton because he is a devotee of Donald Shoup, the "prophet of parking." Shoup advocates that automobile use should be discouraged through "smart growth" urban planning policies--for example, penalizing drivers with parking fees.
It seems Fulton may not be alone in Ventura. In 2007, City Manager Rick Cole wrote a blog that said Shoup gave a presentation to city officials. The next day, the City Council approved parking meters downtown.
Cole described the benefits of Shoup's parking fee idea, but nowhere in his post does it describe the (what should have been obvious) impact on local businesses. Here is the full post:
It's been tried before. Has the time come again for parking meters in Downtown Ventura?That's the plan adopted by the City Council when it approved the Downtown Specific Plan earlier this year. Last night, UCLA Professor Don Shoup presented his findings on the advantages of paid parking at Ventura City Hall.Shoup, the author of "The High Cost of Free Parking," has earned renown as "a parking rock star," according to the Wall Street Journal. "Cars are parked 95% of the time, but 95% of the academic research studies when they are moving," he told the Ventura audience last night. As a result of his research into this neglected realm of transportation policy, Shoup says charging for street parking will:
- Reduce wasted vehicle travel, cutting congestion, air pollution, gas consumption and greenhouse gase emissions
- Improve public services by providing new funding for added police protection, streetscape amenities and routine cleaning and maintenance of our Downtown
Shoup advocates pricing at a price high enough to ensure that there is always at least one space open on each side of a block. That eliminates the circling of the block that research shows averages about three minutes per car over the course of the day (eight minutes during peak parking usage.) While that may seem like a small improvement, Shoup's study of Westwood showed that 45% of the cars during peak hour traffic had already arrived and were looking for a convenient place to park. Over the course of a year, that consumed a million miles of excess vehicle travel, which is the distance of four trips to the moon.
Shoup detailed case studies in Redwood City and Pasadena where paid parking strategies have been successfully implemented. Pasadena, for example, now generates more than a million dollars of paid parking revenue per year to fund added public services in their downtown.
Shoup concluded that cities face a choice. Which would you rather have -- a million miles a year of wasted travel or a million dollars a year to improve Downtown?
Eric Ingemunson's commentary has been featured on Hannity, CNN, NBC, Inside Edition, and KFI's The John and Ken Show.
Eric was born and raised in Ventura County and currently resides in Moorpark. He earned a master's degree in Public Policy and Administration from California Lutheran University. As a conservative, Eric supports smaller government, less taxation, more individual freedom, the rule of law, and a strict adherence to the Constitution.
I think we need to "Shoup" Bill Fulton out of Ventura. Let him go down to Orange County and try to "transform the urban mythology" down there. He'll be run out of town faster than you can say "meter removal."
Eric:
Beware of public officials who ground their public parking policy decisions based on the Shoupista cult of personality rather than on the prescient proactive pragmatism of local, small businesses.
As can been seen in the October 19th Slate On-Line article, the projected revenue growth benefits promised to the City of Chicago resulting from the privatizing of the enforcement of parking meters were sucked up by Wall Street banking giant Morgan Stanley, who shrewdly moved to gain controlling interest of the parking enforcement consortium once the city gave away the parking enforcement store. [See URL above}
Contextually, Ventura shares none of the spatial attributes of either Pasadena or Redwood City. Both of those moderately-sized cities are sandwiched between several others, which together are clustered in densely populated urbanized regions of the State. It's the population, and number of cars, stupid! Ventura shares no such auto-demographic attributes.
Further, given hypothetical calculations of illusive environmental resource benefits associated with the Shoupista plan d’jour versus the adverse impacts of such cult policies on robust small business retention, growth and development, I'd chose to protect small businesses from such adverse impacts any day.
After all, small businesses truly are the engines of economic innovation, growth, and prosperity in both the private and public sectors in this county. And as such, they are fertile incubators of a truly just and sustainable society today, tomorrow, and for the foreseeable future.
Not to mention, the obvious “All politics is local” set of facts. Namely, if small businesses ain’t happy, local politicians ain’t happy.
When will the hubristically arrogant Mr. Cole ever learn such basic facts of economic, let alone political, life?
NostraDemus
Eric:
Beware of public officials who ground their public parking policy decisions based on the Shoupista cult of personality rather than on the prescient proactive pragmatism of local, small businesses.
As can been seen in the October 19th Slate On-Line article entitled, “Time Expired – The End of Parking Meters”, the projected growth in municipal revenues promised to the City of Chicago that would result from privatizing the enforcement of parking meters were sucked up by Wall Street banking giant Morgan Stanley, who shrewdly moved to gain controlling interest of the parking enforcement consortium once the city gave away the parking enforcement store. [See URL above}
Contextually, Ventura shares none of the spatial attributes of either Pasadena or Redwood City. Both of those moderately-sized cities are sandwiched between several others, which together are clustered in densely populated urbanized regions of the State. It's the population, and number of cars, stupid! Ventura shares no such densely populated automotive demographic attributes.
Further, given hypothetical calculations of illusive environmental resource benefits associated with the Shoupista plan d’jour versus the adverse impacts of such cult policies on small business retention, and robust growth and development, I'd chose to protect small businesses from such adverse impacts any day.
After all, small businesses truly are the engines of economic innovation, growth, and prosperity benefiting both the private and public sectors in this county. And as such, they are fertile incubators of a truly sustainable, economically vibrant and socially just society today, tomorrow, and for the foreseeable future.
Not to mention, the obvious “All politics is local” set of facts. Namely, if small businesses ain’t happy, local politicians ain’t happy.
When will the hubristically arrogant Mr. Cole ever learn such basic facts of economic, let alone political life?
NostraDemus
I agree with you NostraDemus. Rick Cole should be dubbed the eighth City Council member. He doesn't seem to know where policy analysis ends and political decisions begins.
I've heard another recall of Bill Fulton is being organized as we speak. They will be announcing it at the protest at Ventura City Hall scheduled for next week.