Distinguished Urban Planning Professor from UCLA, Donald Shoup, gives a talk in Delray Beach last week...

This is a series of three videos which share the talk that Donald Shoup gave at Delray's Crest Theater last Thursday night. The lecture was part of the City of Delray Beach Town Hall series. Since December of last year, they have brought in some of the pre-eminent minds of the Planning profession each month. On May 7th, the series will conclude with Edward McMahon who will talk about Density without High Rises in Cities and Towns. That topic may be of interest to some people around here.

Delray Beach Mayor Glickstein gave the introduction to the talk, highlighting the previous guest speakers and is an informative part of the program. Dr. Shoup, in his talk, exposes many myths surrounding urban parking and the need to store vehicles. He points out that it is not free, hence the title of his book The High Cost of Free Parking. He starts by taking apart a book put out by the American Planning Association dedicated to parking standards and points out the randomness of many of the standards. The actual construction cost of at-grade or structured parking is discussed and varies widely across the nation. He notes that the high cost takes away from other social priorities. One of his over-riding messages is that this is essentially the "governmentalization" of something that should be determined by the private sector. And he reminds us that we are "the first nation to arrive at the poor house in a car."

He uses the SFPark system used in San Francisco as an example of a system that is able to find the "right price" for parking based upon supply and demand in the actual world. Click on the link and see real time parking space availability in downtown San Francisco. This is how that system works - he shares it in the video too:

By changing prices, they eliminate the cruising for spaces and control the supply of parking so that there is always one or two spaces available. It is accessed by smart phones. He also talks about San Jose and Ventura, CA approaches to parking, with include Parking Benefit Districts. Money collected by meters is directly channeled to the commercial and public spaces that generate the revenue.

That is probably too sophisticated a system for a city like Lake Worth, but he also makes a point of actually getting rid of parking standards in some situations. In the current revision to the land development regulations, we are reviewing changes that would allow businesses to fill the empty buildings and storefronts along Dixie Hwy without providing on-site parking. Parking would likely be on side streets or people would walk or bike to the stores or offices. This would at least open up long-closed buildings and remove an impediment to redevelopment. The thought being is that congestion might be a better alternative to vacancy and continued blight. We have a joint meeting between the Planning and Zoning Board and the Historic Resource Preservation Board this Wednesday night at 6 p.m. to discuss these and other changes.

Enjoy the videos!