PARKING IS NOT FREE.
PARKING IS NOT FREE. I posted here about the proposition that shortages of parking spaces occur when the price of parking is too low to clear the market. James Cameron writes an informative regular column about transportation in our local paper. In a recent column, he wrote about the hidden costs of free parking spaces. He dissents from the standards for parking spaces for new construction set by the Institute of Transportation Engineers. He uses as an example of requiring too many parking spaces the standard that a convent should have one parking space for every ten nuns in residence. Shopping centers and hotels are supposed to have enough parking spaces for days when they are at capacity. Some shopping centers have 60% of their land for parking and only 40% for shopping. I do have to admit that providing enough parking spaces for the days when stores are full is good for people like me who believe that December 23 is the best shopping day of the year.