Dear Atlanta: Just Shut Up and Pay for Your Parking (2015, how much)

[jsvh]

Dear Atlanta: Just Shut Up and Pay for Your Parking - Rantings - Curbed Atlanta

Last month, Ponce City Market started charging for parking and a ton of Atlantans frankly lost their ****. In an editorial this week, the AJC's snark-tastic city observer and veteran reporter Bill Torpy — the same guy who poo-poos planned bike lanes — bemoaned the demise of free parking, calling it part of the city's ongoing attempt at "urban social engineering" and an end to "Atlantans' God-given right."

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To decry space for bikers, space for walkers, space for transit users, hurts those who choose to drive to work, school, home, shopping, sporting events, etc. MARTA might not be great, but it's getting better. Bike trails aren't the best in the country, but the city is trying. And the only thing standing in the way of progress are those that dismiss the attempts at expanding the systems and infrastructure by saying, "It will never work, this is Atlanta."

Well, shut up. Your urban ideologies reek of mothballs.

The saying goes, "There's no such thing as a free lunch," and there's no such thing as "free parking." Rather, the price we pay is in our connectivity, our health and our city's vitality. Stop bitching. And start embracing the new Atlanta. The Atlanta of alternative transit. The Atlanta where people live in the heart of town and have no intentions of leaving, no matter what life-stage they enter. The Atlanta where not everyone relies on cars. Because, like it or not, this is the Atlanta that Atlantans need. This is the Atlanta people want. And this is the Atlanta we deserve. Tim Keane gets it. Keith Parker gets it. And, love him or hate him, Kasim Reed gets it.

This is not to say that everyone should live in the city. Nor is this to say that every parking space across the city and metro should require a fee. But in the city, where there are alternatives to driving, it's time to wean ourselves off of cars, allowing us to bolster the infrastructure for walking, biking and transit. For those suburbanites who lament having to pay when they come into the city — sorry, but we aren't sorry. Either pay a few dollars to take MARTA, or pay a few dollars to park your car. It's a pretty straightforward concept.

[Mutiny77]

Free Parking Comes at a Price - NY Times

[0nyxStation]

They should actually charge more for parking, the current price is far too cheap.

[skbl17]

"Atlanta's god given right to free parking."

Hmmm...I can't find the reference to "free parking" in the Bible. Tried searching the Torah and the Qur'an...no luck there. Maybe Mr. Torpy can point me to that passage?

- skbl17

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by 0nyxStation

They should actually charge more for parking, the current price is far too cheap.

Depends. If the price is causing (for example) a parking deck to be 90% empty, I would say it's too high.

The real solution would be to eliminate minimum parking requirements.

[bhammaster]

What alternative transit? Does Marta go to PCM now?

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by bhammaster

What alternative transit? Does Marta go to PCM now?

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by bhammaster

What alternative transit? Does Marta go to PCM now?

Bus Routes 102 and 2.

[jsvh]

And PCM has a free shuttle that runs to the North Ave rail station too.

And it is planned to be a stop on the next major phase of the Streetcar / LRT extension.

[ATLTJL]

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!!

You really think a MARTA BUS is a sufficient mode of transportation to support businesses like WEST ELM?????

I totally agree with this article. Let them charge whatever they want for parking. Pretty soon all the good retailers will pull out and we'll be stuck with another empty shell of a building. Hey, that's capitalism, let it happen.

The free market will determine how much, if anything, should be charged for parking, so I think it's fine to just let it. Not worth crying over, they'll figure out what the market rate is or suffer the consequences.

Now, having said that, I will say this: they way they charge for parking is absolutely asinine. You have to go to a machine and type in your license plate number. LOL, who even knows their license plate number? And how does that get enforced? Does the security person have to key in every single license plate number and cross-reference it with a database of who paid and who didn't? No wonder they have to charge for parking, it must cost a fortune just to enforce it. All of this could easily be avoided by just installing gates like Atlantic Station or painting numbers on the spots, like every other metered situation.

PCM is shaping up to be a logistic disaster, I hope it gets its act together soon.

Of course, I still like it better than Krog. For around the same price as freaking Freds, I can get a HOLEMAN & FINCH burger and not have to sit at some kumbaya community table to enjoy it. It's worth the $2 parking for that alone, so I guess I do support PCM! I think over time some of the businesses there will choose to validate. I do think that if the food court wants a fighting chance to thrive, they should institute free parking for 2-hours like Atlantic Station, but again, up to them to decide.