Parking Frustration

Mr. Roadshow at the Merc just ran a piece about the parking issues in certain San Jose neighborhoods.  It is illuminating on a couple of points that could just as easily apply to B'game like:

I understand that the street is public, but this area is getting so crowded that I don't even have room to place my garbage and recycling bins.

There is an apartment a quarter-mile from my house, yet residents in the apartment complex will park down Blossom Hill and overflow onto our street, five to six houses in. Often cars are left for multiple days -- but not long enough to be towed.

As housing and rental costs soar, apartments are filling up and some, maybe many, apartment dwellers are taking in roommates to cope with rents of $3,000 to $4,000 a month. That can lead to hard-to-find parking, which you nearby homeowners are dealing with.

Throw in the AirBnB and VRBO parkers, our proximity to SFO such that air travelers use B'game for "free" parking and all the developers trying to skimp on parking requirements and you get a mess.  My street is so close to the Ave that we went to permit parking, a year after the two closer streets did it, but not everyone has an organized neighbor to apply for it or the desire to pay the $50 per year for the tags.

Comments

[lenj]

I think the problem is when they allow high density housing to be built, they only require one parked car per apartment with very minimal "guest" or second car parking. We live in an apartment, and as a family of 4, most families are 2-car families even if it is single-income family. and since apartments don't have more than 1 car parking space, you're stuck with the 2nd car to find parking... I think they need to update the ordinance when they build high density housing, to require enough parking for 1.5x number of apartments and not just 1x apartment. if apartment wants to charge extra rent for the 2nd car parking, I'm sure many people will be willing to pay for that..

[resident]

You are 100% correct. Thank you. we have this problem on our street all the time (close to Broadway).