[dalke]

Sparse areas don't have a shortage of parking, do they? That is, the context for this side branch is for when street parking is constantly full. A fix in that case is to charge for parking, and improve mass transit.

The idea around reducing zoning requirements for parking is to allow a core to emerge. And everyone's agreed that it will take a long time. But it has to start somewhere, and it's more difficult if zoning requires (say) 1.5 parking spaces per 1-bdr apartment, even when in an area well served by mass transit.

You mentioned Santa Monica. Here's their planning commission report on parking for the city - http://www.smgov.net/departments/pcd/agendas/Planning-Commis... .

It includes: Reduce residential off-street parking requirements for some housing types in the Transit-Oriented and Mixed Use area to reflect actual Census data for household vehicle ownership and eliminate the visitor space requirement in all areas. Reduce off-street parking requirements for certain types of commercial uses (general office, hotels, restaurants, markets) in the Transit-Oriented and Mixed Use areas.

It also points out that while there is a "Perception of parking scarcity", that scarcity doesn't really exist. Indeed, "Santa Monica, like many other cities state and nationwide, has a parking supply that exceeds parking demand." Instead, "drivers will almost always choose an on-street space over an off-street space and indicates that the management of parking resources, not the supply, is the underlying issue."