[wonder_er]

It's funny (and sad) to me that people who are familiar with congestion-solving pricing schemes for something like AWS services act so unable to see parking and road networks as containing the same dynamics.

I'm working on solving the problem because my life is actively being ruined by mismanaged parking.

I think low enough of my own skills and capacities, and yet.

https://josh.works/parking

Unfortunately 'parking' is just a component of a larger mobility network that, in America, is mismanaged to better accomplish ethnic cleansing. I wish I were kidding, I wish I were wrong.

A book has been written titled: 'the slaughter of cities: urban renewal as ethnic cleansing'

It sorta ruined my ability to function as peacefully as before in segments of society common in the greater united states.

Edit: the 2nd of Donald shoup's 3 part fix was 'spend all collected money on the curb where it's collected'.

This piece, mixed with the proper clearing price for maintaining a 10% availability of parking spaces means parking could possibly provide for really substantial and beautiful upgrades to the area.

Feels like lots of times the conversation forgets that beautiful things will be added if parking gets managed rightly.

[ipdashc]

> congestion-solving pricing schemes for something like AWS services act so unable to see parking and road networks as containing the same dynamics

While I do see the irony, I think one of the differences is that nobody needs AWS, but a lot of poor or lower-middle-class people in America have no realistic choice but to drive to places. I'm not against paid parking, but like you said, there is something funny (and sad) about the solution effectively being "reduce demand for parking, unless you're rich enough to not care".

[wonder_er]

The solution isn't to reduce the demand for parking.

It's to dynamically price the parking high enough that there is always ten percent of the parking available.

When there is less or no demand, the price would fall.

Just like AWS services that guarantee certain availability all the time. Sometimes the moment by moment utilization cost can go quite high to accommodate, and it's not to make aws rich, it's to mediate the demand.

Shoup's parking fix would benefit the regular person far more directly than AWS does.

[xg15]

Maybe I didn't completely get the idea yet, but wouldn't those 10% then by definition be priced so high that no one could reasonably afford it? And certainly not people who have trouble to make ends meet anyway.

[wonder_er]

It would be high enough that it would be available for people who needed it urgently.

Perhaps a plumber making an urgent visit, using a company credit card. What a perfect use case to spend a lot of money on expensive parking.

In the greater United States, of the people comprising the bottom 30% of income earners, only 10% of them have a car.

Requiring or supporting any sort of car infrastructure is dramatically regressive to them.

Read shoup's book! He shows that not only is it not regressive to implement policies like this, but it is in fact regressive and harmful to the poor people to not have policies like this in place.

[raybb]

Your parking blog post is pretty good and I noticed that you have a substack that hasn't been posted on in a while. How did it go running a substack about parking and what made you decide to stop?

For context, I recently started https://urbanismnow.substack.com/ to bring you the best ideas from around the world to inspire action where you (c)are. It's been about a month and it's more work than expected but I think the opportunity to bring people together is pretty high.

[wonder_er]

The substack was for me to scratch an itch. It's so I can write then link to what I've written when talking with others.

I hang out with a lot more city planning and city engineering ppl than some, and it stirs up so many thoughts.

I've got more coming soon on the substack. Specifically about a totally new thing called 'coning'.

Gonna be good.

I long ago committed to never committing to a publishing schedule. I wrote when it's easy, often enough it is.

I like your stuff!

An under appreciated part of cities in America is how much some ppl in America hated others, and how widely shared that belief was.

That hate lives in today in a dozen ways that cannot be seen if one is committed to believing that this kind of hate was done by backwards, old fashioned people.