Search Results
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End Parking Mandates, Get a Free Bus Pass
What if more of our collective brainpower—not just our governments, but the billions of tiny decisions that add up to our entire economy—were working to reduce our dependence on the automobile? How many good little ideas might we come up with? Here’s one: apartments that come with an all-you-can-ride transit pass included. It’s happening right now in Minneapolis, the Star-Tribune reported: Metro Transit plans to expand a pilot that provides all-you-can-ride passes to residents of apartments, condos...Read more » -
To Stop Building Heat Islands, Stop Overbuilding Parking Lots
Update, July 2023: In 2022, Oregon’s Land Conservation and Development Commission adopted rules to reduce minimum parking ratios for jurisdictions within metropolitan areas, with an option for cities to eliminate all parking mandates. It is a major step forward that will make it possible for future development to be constructed without building more heat islands. Urban heat islands got national attention this past summer after a record heat wave in the Pacific Northwest killed...Read more » -
Yes, Even Walmart Wants to Build Smaller Parking Lots
Nestled near the Columbia River in Wood Village, Oregon, is the largest Walmart in the Portland region. The building spans three-and-a-half football fields, but it’s dwarfed by something else: the surrounding parking lot, twice as big as the store itself. When it expanded from a Walmart to a Walmart Supercenter in 2004, its floor space increased by 45 percent. Its parking lot grew less, though, only adding 36 percent more spaces. Turns out, Walmart has been quietly reducing its parking ratios for years. Case study: Walmart follows consumer behavior, reduces parking “Every time we reevaluate, we pull it...Read more » -
How Oregonians Re-legalized ‘Missing Middle’ Homes
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Great News: Portland’s Next Rail Line May Have Fewer Parking Garages
The people planning the Portland area’s next light-rail line seem to be steering away from a scenario where taxpayers waste $100 million of precious public-transit funding on a series of giant parking garages. But unless the public speaks up in the next month, it’s possible that a handful of elected officials will push to build the garages anyway—despite a mountain of evidence that spending the money on bus service, infrastructure...Read more » -
Here’s What Oregon’s Huge New Transit Housing Bill Would Legalize
One of North America’s biggest new ideas for greener transportation is spreading north. A year after a pair of California state senators drew national attention with a proposal to lift apartment bans from all residential land within a quarter mile of frequent transit, Oregon has a similar bill of its own. Senate Bill 10, which was introduced last week, had its first public hearing Monday, February 25. This isn’t the...Read more » -
Here’s Oregon’s New Bill to Re-legalize ‘Missing Middle’ Homes Statewide
Duplexes, triplexes and quads were legal and common, across Oregon and elsewhere, until cities started banning them from most residential land in the mid-1900s. These neighborhood-specific bans on mid-size homes have worsened Oregon’s long-term shortage of workforce housing, driving up home costs and forcing many families to choose between two extremes: a detached home with a lawn—which often has to be far from work and amenities in order to find...Read more » -
2018 Was the Year Parking Reform Went from Minor to Major League
Almost every good idea, from sandwiches to light bulbs to bike lanes, follows a similar upward-twisting curve of rising popularity. First, in a trickle, comes its introduction by a few radicals. Then come the early adopters, the ones who know a good idea when they see it even though it’s off-the-wall. They’re a little more numerous. After that, a deluge of change: those in the “early majority” get exposed to...Read more » -
Portland Might Spend Twice as Much on Free Parking Lots as Affordable Housing along Its Next Rail Line
The big, hard-fought housing ballot issue that Portland-area voters approved this month set aside 10 percent of its revenue—$65 million—specifically for low-income-affordable housing near transit lines. But as the same regional government draws up plans for the region’s next light-rail line, it’s also been quietly preparing to give the rest of the Pacific Northwest an object lesson in what not to do. It’s weighing whether to dedicate $168 million or...Read more » -
Portland Now Has the Smartest Parking Policies in the Northwest
We’re going to call it: No city in the Northwest, and few cities in North America, are doing parking policy better than Portland. With a unanimous vote last week, its city council dropped two crucial pieces into place. First, they agreed to adjust parking-meter prices up or down each year based on the number of people using them, aiming for an average occupancy rate between 65 and 85 percent—one to...Read more »
