Suck it up: Pay for Saturday
At the risk of bringing enormous vitriol, I have to weigh in on the proposals to charge for parking on Saturday in Downtown Silver Spring. And the rub is this: You people have had your parking SUBSIDIZED ever since the development of Downtown Silver Spring. Times are tough. There’s a huge budget shortfall every time the County Council fires up budget discussions. This is a small, per person price to pay for using county-provided shelter and parking.
My take? SHUT THE HELL UP AND PAY THE NOMINAL PARKING FEE.
There. I said it. It provides revenue for the county, and the detriment to local businesses isn’t half of what the Chamber of Commerce and others make it out to be. Plus it’s CHEAP. $0.75 per hour? Even at a dollar an hour, that’s a steal. The East Silver Spring Civic Association people (who you know are my near and dear friends) have sent out links to online petitions that I won’t have the decency to post here decrying the parking fee as unfair, business averse, blah blah blah. And then there was this:
A big part of the Market’s success is the fact that parking in the lots and garages next to it is free on Saturdays so losing that would be a serious blow to the Market’s chances of success.
In a word: BULLSHIT. I love the Fenton Street Market. I walk to it almost every weekend it’s in session, and this is a red herring if I ever saw one. Any of these people will pay a dollar to park if they have to. And let us not forget: They’re using County-provided resources that took time and money to build. If they want to drive here and use the public garages on Saturday, let them pay some pocket change to the County to get our revenue back up. Or they can schlep several blocks from free parking elsewhere. Because, according to the “petition”:
For starters we believe that extending parking meters to Saturdays will unfairly benefit the new Downtown Silver Spring development since they will have the distinct advantage of being able to offer free parking on Saturdays.
Like I said, they can park at the Wayne Avenue garage, drop by the Fresh Farm Market on Ellsworth and then walk down Fenton to the “other” market. I, for one, have seen a dramatic increase in foot traffic between the two since the inception of Fenton Street Market. And isn’t getting people out of their cars and walking by local businesses part of economic development?
To be fair, I don’t have to pay for parking. I live walking distance from all these things. I park my car in my driveway on Friday evening and rarely move it until Monday morning. And if I do want to park it on the street, I have an orange East Silver Spring parking permit sticker. So there. Unfair, you say? Not in the least. That little bit of bonus added a good 10-20% to the cost of my home, with the additional property tax percentage to boot.
You want to come into my neighborhood and park in my garages? Reach into that pocket and pull out a couple of quarters. You’re gonna need them. And well you should.
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DAM RIGHT!!!! NO PAY? GO TO GULAG!
I think you are right and people should just pay for the parking. I think this measure should be implemented in Rockville and Bethesda as well. Actuality, Rockville Town Square might now charge for Saturday parking, but I’m not sure.
What a stupid idea.
I can see two sides of this. On one hand, I can see that the county is hurting, and what better way to pay for infrastructure than charge those who use it rather than taxing everyone across the board whether they have cars or not.
On the other hand, I can see how it’s anti-local-business. Even though a dollar is peanuts, it has the phycological power to send people to places without parking fees, be it shopping malls or other neighborhoods. It’s silly: it’s not the amount of money that deters people but the fact that they are being charged.
One other thing I hope that they consider are the people who live in parking districts. I’d be very upset if I was forced to get out of bed and dressed by 9 every Saturday just to go meter the car. I know I can get a parking permit, but $95 is definitely not worth it when I am gone to work for the entire time parking meters are charged on weekdays. I’d be fine paying $20 or so for a Saturday parking pass though.
i’m just going to park in your driveway and block you in, then walk over to the farmers market.
I can certainly see both sides of the argument, and this is really supposed to get the conversation going. I think there’s a smart solution in there – something other than just “Protest the Parking Meter!” philosophy.
lil b: Next time it snows and Gunnar digs a car out and leaves, you know where I’ll be.
How much does it really raise? Let’s say we’re talking about 100 meters that are used for a full 10 hours (and that is a bit of a stretch.) That’s $750 for one day a week. Plus, now we have to have the meter police go to work on Saturdays to enforce thse new rules. I know they probably collect more in fines than the meters do.
Now I live a block away from these meters. Guess where the car people have gone to where it doesn’t cost a dime? It seems like every day there are more and more cars parked on my street.
At the end of they day, it just doesn’t seem worth the trouble to charge for parking.
“Budget shortfalls” –
But why not charge a dollar for parking? Better yet, why not $1.50? Twice as good, and chump change, really … who wouldn’t pay three dollars for Markets and all that Silver Spring has to offer?
What about toll booths on GA and East/West? All these freeloaders coming into Silver Spring for various purposes should have to pay for the privledge, shouldn’t they?
Hypothetical – in the future, a miracle happens and there’s no budget shortfall for the County Council to discuss. They’re breaking even, let’s say. Who thinks parking on Saturdays is going to go back to being free?
It won’t. It never will. Its cost will go up, a nickel here, a nickel there – is this good for businesses in Silver Spring long-term?
Why in a bad economy would you ever raise taxes and fees? The goal is to encourage people to come to Silver Spring and spend money to support local businesses and jobs in our neighborhood. We are not Bethesda. We are not DC. We are Silver Spring and we have changing and growing neighborhood that needs to be supported. I do believe that having free parking is an incentive to skip Bethesda and DC and come to Silver Spring. If not people will go to other areas like Rockville or Columbia that have many of the same restaurants and shops without having to pay for parking.
How much does free parking actually affect those decisions? If I’m trying to figure out whether or not to go to Bethesda or DC, parking costs rarely, if ever, figure into it. It’s a destination-based decision. Do I want to go to Redwood and the gelato place, or to Brasserie Beck or RFD? Actual numbers would be nice to play with.
We don’t need actual numbers here.
Paying parking costs on a Saturday might not affect your decision, or many others; it’s a pin prick, to be sure. But –
Which is more likely – that this additional fee helps struggling small business in Silver Spring, or hurts them?
Near as I can tell, there’s no upside for them with this permanent change, a change that will only grow over time.
The onus should be on those whose decisons are creating the budget shortfalls in the first place. Why aren’t they being held accountable? Are they?
I love the way you just call it like it is. Keep up the good work.
Charging for parking on weekends (why stop at just Saturday?) is a bad idea. We want people to come to downtown Silver Spring. Charging to park will discourage that.
Also, charging will have an impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. In my neighborhood we have either residential parking permits for M – F or 2 hour parking restrictions M – F. If they start charging to park downtown on the weekends, we’ll need to get all those signs changed to restrict parking on the weekends, too.
What a great argument: Everyone else should have to pay more but not me because I can walk to DTSS from my house.
And I believe the “county-provided resources” used to build those parking garages you referred to are the country taxes I pay.
Yes. That’s exactly my argument. *rolls eyes*
It appears the forces behind the “No Parking Fees on Saturday” movement endorse higher parking fees during the week. Actually, I’d be okay with that instead. It’s darn cheap to park during the week right now, so we’d get additional revenue and still get Saturday without impacting local businesses (as much as that would happen).
I knew I could get people riled up with this one.
“We’d get additional revenue” …
It’s always about getting more money from other people, isn’t it, through $.75 here, $.50 there, sometimes much more, on and on, so as to finance a budget that’s ever beyond balancing …
This is not how we live our individual financial lives, but when it comes to our gov’t, all bets off …
I never did understand the concept behind charging for parking. When I go somewhere it is usually is to spend money. Why charge me for that? Most malls do not charge. Some ubran ones, like Pentagon City, do. If I go out to eat in Wheaton I can find a place to park without paying. Not so in Bethesda and DTSS (if I had to drive.) The one that really burns my balls is haing to pay for parking at hospitals. That’s just cold.
What makes parking in DTSS so special?
One argument I think no one has addressed is how it affects homes, like mine, where cars park on streets to avoid paying for parking. I’ve seen it happen numerous times, and my street is getting crowded.
Even funnier is in the winter when people with permits park in front of my house and walk the rest of the way to Metro. People, actually, drive a few blocks, park, and walk the rest of the way. Lucky for me I only have one car and a driveway.
“There is no righteous ire like the ire of people who believe they deserve something for nothing.”
For a really interesting examination of parking policies, I recommend Donald Shoup’s “The High Cost of Free Parking,” who argues that the abundance of free parking has been catastrophic for North American cities.
WELL STATED! THANK YOU!
Brains: Just from reading the description and comments on Amazon, Shoup’s analysis should be required reading for all city planners. Great recommendation.
County parking is abundant and cheap. Or you can take the Metro. We Americans and Montgomery County residents pay a high price, (monetary, health, esthetic, many others) for our outdated over-reliance on cars for transportation in urban areas.
If you support this, like I do be sure to write your county council and let them know:
County.Council@montgomerycountymd.gov
I support this change. It is an acceptable way to generate much needed revenue and establish uniform hours in all the county parking districts: downtown Bethesda, the Montgomery Hills commercial area on Georgia Avenue between 16th Street and the Capital Beltway, the North Bethesda commercial and office areas near the White Flint Metro station and in Rock Spring Park, and the downtown areas in Silver Spring and Wheaton. It will also:
– Encourage turnover in metered spaces to stimulate commerce in the business districts.
– Ease traffic congestion by shifting some of the parkers off the streets and into parking garages and by encouraging turnover so that drivers don’t wander endlessly seeking an open space.
As SS expands and grows, so must our concept of what’s acceptable regarding parking availability and cost…
BTW the obstructionist octegenarians of the ESSCA are petitioning to block this proposal again like they did last time it came up in 2007…
There are probably a couple of ESSCA members who are in their 80s. But anyone who attends the meetings will see a range of ages. ESSCA works very hard on behalf of residents and businesses in this community. “Obstructionist” is a grossly inaccurate characterization.
Hopefully, anyone who drives keeps a stash of quarters with them. My biggest worry about the parking charge is that people who find themselves without quarters will park on nearby streets.
Yeah, maybe we over-rely on cars in the USA. But everyone cannot walk or take public transit 100% of the time. Some drivers are obnoxious, with an apalling sense of entitlement. But others drive because they finally threw in the towel on the car-free lifestyle and bought a vehicle. They only drive it when they feel it would be seriously impractical — or downright impossible — to get to their destination.
Pablo: Please don’t overgeneralize with respect to local residents or age. Harry Sanders was 63 when he passed away. We still need to listen to each other to make progress.
We should not forget that, if not for these neighborhood groups, we would have had the “American Dream Mall” and definitely not walkable streets, unique businesses and restaurants.
http://www.gazette.net/gazette_archive/1997/199725/montgomerycty/county/a58144-1.html
Nancy, please note my comment regarding URBAN transportation, not just anywhere. If the location is off the MetroRail grid, transit doesn’t work in this county. But on the MetroRail grid (as is downtown SS) with MetroRail, MetroAccess for riders with disabilities, and a 10 minute walk or 3-minute cab ride from Metro, many more could take MetroRail than do now.
Then allow me to overgeneralize with respect to local residents and age: ESSCA is a bunch of old, (mostly) white (semi-) retired people who purport to speak for the community they serve but in no way represent the people who actually live here. They are the unfortunate vocal minority because they have the time to be heavily involved with community organizations.
There. It’s a generalization, but it’s a mantra I hear echoed in every single civic group in the area. I dare you to prove me wrong. Deal with it.
And if the county would replace parking meters with credit card machines like DC has done in many areas, we wouldn’t have such a problem with having quarters. One step at a time, I suppose.
Well said, Thayer. ESSCA is a self important sewing circle in need of an enema.
More on the new meter technology here:
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dpktmpl.asp?url=/content/dot/parking/News/news-release1.asp
One won’t have to interrupt their dinner at Jackie’s to feed the meter!
Eric –
To your point about local civic associations, I’m regretfully must prove you wrong about your generalizations. The South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association is recognized by County officials as having one of the youngest and most diverse participation rates.
Dammit! Evan is quite correct about South Silver Spring – one of the more vibrant and active civic organizations in the area. I stand corrected.
But for the record, you people aren’t getting any younger down there. Just sayin’.
There is no such thing as “free parking” it is subsidized and paid for by our taxes. Further, those who get used to it and insist on it staying “free” have NO idea on its greater impact on our society in general.
For the Fenton St Mkt sample and those who do NOT want to pay for parking, there are several bus lines (both Rideon and WMATA) that drop you right on that corner, it is blocks from a major bike path, and an easy walk from two metro stops. And as Thayer says, easily walkable by thousands of nearby households who have PAID for that location priviledge in their mortgage and high rent rates.
As to ESSCA make-up, yes, it does skew 55+, but that should be no surprise when you look at who has the free time to get involved in local matters on a school night. I wish that more younger households got together a pooled $s for a babysitter on ESSCA mtg nights and for other community activisim events, but I know that is unlikely to happen.
What I don’t like about the new proposed parking fees though are the inequity. It should be the SAME price for same dates/hours for all County-run public spaces (whether street or garage) across the whole county. Charging nothing in one place and $3 in another, is ridiclous and punitive to local businesses. “Free parking zones” agreements with developers should be abolished and outlawed. Then the whole county parking system needs an overhaul.
Your idea on the parking meters sucks. Why would we want to disadvantage small businesses in the down economy?
And, by the way, Thayer Ave is also sucking wind on your census responses. plug in 20910 zip code into the map to see how you lag behind your neighbors
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/take10map/
1. My idea sucks? YOU suck.
2. Maybe if your area wasn’t so elitist and included more affordable housing (particularly for immigrant families – documented and otherwise), you’d have a similar response rate. But enjoy that less diverse neighborhood of yours.
Are you kidding? Stand and be counted – or we can’t get government cash. SS and Takoma Park (sanctuary city) should be WAY ahead of everyone.
What are you doing back here. Get back to work so you can pay for my health care.
I know it’s been a while since this was published and I know the county has already made their decisions, but I just wanted to add a couple more thoughts.
The cost: 75 cents an hour to leave your car somewhere is a steal when space is a premium like it is in Silver Spring. The cost of a latte gets you an entire day at 50-cent-long-term parking. For those of us living in Downtown Silver Spring, when I was condo shopping here a few years ago, the cost of a parking spot was $20,000.
Free parking: Shopping malls and supermarkets have free parking, yes, but that is because the parking is privately owned and the space is offered as a convenience to customers. Nothing is stopping businesses in DT Silver Spring from buying land and offering space for customers to park, except for the fact that there hardly any available to do so. Shopping malls rarely exist in urban areas. They are in the suburbs where space is plentiful.
The taxes: Sure, if you want your taxes to cover the cost of parking that could be done, but that would mean raising your taxes. You can pay it at a flat rate or you can pay it when you use it. Our taxes currently only cover part of the cost.
I know people who actually own businesses and a little thing like this does affect business. People are lazy, and many don’t like even walking 2 blocks or more from the free on weekends parking garages to get to small businesses. I’ve heard the complaints, “There’s no parking around here, I’m doubled parked outside” even though the Wayne and Fenton garages are literally a couple of blocks away. I guess people don’t like crossing major roads like Georgia Ave?