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Costly parking permits good for the earth
To the editor, After reading the article on parking permits last Wednesday, I realized that Michael LaFleur, the reporter who interviewed me, completely misunderstood the Sierra Club position on parking permits. I would like to take this opportunity to clarify our position on parking permits. Most importantly I should note that there is no "free parking." If the driver of a car does not directly pay for parking that car, the cost is paid by someone else. This is "subsidized parking." The problem with subsidies is that they disguise the true and complete costs of our actions and therefore mislead us about the impacts of our actions. In this case, parking subsidies encourage people to drive more under the mistaken impression that it is both low-cost and low-impact. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Every second, America's 200-million motor vehicles travel 60,000 miles, burn 3,000 gallons of petroleum products and add 60,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into our air. They consume more than one-third of all U.S. energy while exhaling two-thirds of our carbon dioxide emissions, one-quarter of all CFC's, half of all methane, 40 percent of all nitrogen oxides and most of our carbon monoxide.Over 240 million gallons of oil are dumped in our waterways and on our ground each year. Our automobiles are responsible for 30,000 deaths annually from respiratory problems as well as the nearly 50,000 annual deaths due to accidents. Only hunters kill more of our wildlife than automobiles. Studies from the UCLA School of Architecture show that charging for parking is the single best way to affect mode splits: if people have to pay to park, they leave their cars at home. The Sierra Club recognizes the impracticality of people abandoning their cars in a society built around the car. That is why we also recommend that revenues generated from parking permits be used to develop viable alternatives to automobile travel. Bicycle and pedestrian connectivity and mass transit must be improved. Also there must be short-term parking available for those occasional days when driving is a necessity.
Bill Moeller |
