Motorhead blog Jalopnik strayed from their typical fodder (see their excellent, hard-hitting speculation on the new Knight Rider television series) to take on politics. The target: Park(ing) Day, as featured in an recent Carectomy post.

If you want to play ping-pong, find a rec room at a YMCA or something. There's a lot of those out in San Francisco and Miami and Waukegan, Illinois (seriously -- which of these does not belong?) and all the other cities you'll be "protesting" in. But seriously, if one of us sees you eco-dorks out there taking up a much-needed meter, we'll be parking in that there spot -- so move that ping-pong table or else it'll be mulch when we're through with it.

The tone of Jalopnik’s rant sounds much like the coordinated anger mongering against cyclists in 2003 by Clear Channel radio shock jocks in Raleigh, NC, Cleveland, and Houston.

The protest parks sprinkled throughout the Bay Area make little impact in the quest for parking in cities with thousands of spaces available. The demonstrations do, however, gain attention, spread a message (which Jalopnik has inadvertently propagated beyond the typical audience) and spark a debate.

Subsidized public parking, way below the free market rate for occupying city-space, encourages people to drive. Open spaces and parks in cities are publicly-funded as well; the question becomes, which benefits the community more and should we embrace?

The parking shortage in big cities isn't generally caused by an abundance of parking squats, but rather by too many cars clogging up our streets and our lives.

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John said:

Seriously

October 11, 2007

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