Word of the Week: Shoupista

Shoupista: An admirer of the work of UCLA urban-planning professor Donald Shoup. Shoup’s book, The High Cost of Free Parking, argues that parking regulations are mismanaged by planners, architects, and politicians, and that “free” parking is anything but.

San Jose resident Marc Morris spoke about Shoup and Shoupistas in a “Perspectives” editorial on KQED-FM (Bay Area public radio) earlier this month:

Shoup points out the hidden costs of parking. Land is tied up that could be better used for homes and shops, and the lost value is passed on in higher prices. When parking is free, people choose driving instead of walking or taking the bus. When spaces are full, people cruise the streets, creating congestion and pollution.

So we all suffer inconvenience and pay a price for “free” parking. But businesses and residents don't like parking meters either. What’s the solution? Here’s one: create a parking benefit district so that revenue from the meters goes directly back to improve the local community. It’s a smart, transformative idea. It worked in Pasadena, revitalizing a neglected downtown.

I want that in my neighborhood. Instead of protesting, I’ve become a Shoupista. If the price of parking is set correctly, convenient spaces will be available for the local businesses. The revenue from a parking benefit district can help pay to improve and maintain our local streets and sidewalks.

I first became acquainted with the Shoupista philosophy six or seven years ago, when Donald Shoup was a guest speaker at my monthly neighborhood-association meeting. Shoup presented a case study of Old Town Pasadena, which was transformed from dilapidated to thriving after it installed parking meters and dedicated the entire revenue stream to Old Town improvements. In his quiet way, Shoup is very convincing; I understand why one might become a Shoupista. Alas, no one in our neighborhood took up the parking-benefit-district banner. Our commercial strip did get new, nuisance-y parking meters (the kind that require you to find a central pay station, pay, get a receipt, return to your car, and place the receipt on your dashboard), but all of the money goes to the city of Oakland—which nevertheless recently laid off 10 percent of its police force because of budget woes—rather than to our shopping district.

Shoup’s book is 752 pages long and costs $53.42 on Amazon, but if that seems excessive you can read a 21-page PDF summary—yes, free.

Join the Shoupistas group on Facebook.

UPDATE: Check out "The Meter's Running," a post about parking meters at Peterman's Eye, the J. Peterman blog. Yes, that J. Peterman. The links are interesting, too.

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Image from The Expired Meter, a Chicago website that takes an anti-Shoupista somewhat different stance from Shoup's (see comment, below).

Comments

[The Parking Ticket Geek]

Hey Nancy,

First, thanks for the plug and for crediting our photo. Very kind.

Second, we're definitely not anti-Shoup at The Expired Meter (www.theexpiredmeter.com).

In fact, we agree in principle with his views.

However, from my reading and understanding, is Mr. Shoup leans toward calculating and setting the cost of on street parking in a way that prices too many drivers off the street and injures local business.

Our view is a market based view, where you adjust the pricing to the point where the majority of the spaces are filled, but turnover is healthy enough to allow anyone who wants to park there to locate parking.

If too many spaces remain open, decrease pricing. If too many people are circling the block searching for parking, raise prices.

The key is to find a happy medium and ultimately, maximize customers for the stores where this street parking exists.

But thanks for the plug.

[Nancy Friedman]

Parking Ticket Geek: Thanks for reading, commenting, and setting me straight. I've amended the post accordingly!