The next chapter in my fascination with parking around the city deals with the fiction of so-called "Compact" slots. You see them all over the place. If there are enough of them in a line, they equate to one more spot for the developer of the project. But it's fiction. Here is a Ford Explorer parked at Safeway--one of four SUVs that day in the line of "Compact" spots that face Howard Ave.
The woman who owns the Explorer was a little concerned as I snapped the photo, but once I told her how I feed my blogging hobby with them, she looked me in the eye and said "You are one interesting guy". Hey Cat, I hope you visit the Voice often.
If you want to revisit past parking posts look here, here and here for more entertaining shots. Oh, and I still have not seen more than one motorcycle in the 8 slots on the Avenue since that last post. 95% of the time all 8 slots are empty.
Joe, trust me, it makes me less than comfortable sometimes when I'm taking one of my Ferraris and parking in downtown Burlingame, so I usually just use the good ol' 911 Turbo instead.
Bruce Dickinson must laugh, yes chuckle on how various "urbanist experts" make everyone think that we need more compact spaces, because cars are getting smaller, you will take public transportation, or ride your bike, etc. This argument is used a lot in multifamily developments as these "transit oriented housing". Well guess what? Cars on average are getting LARGER! You've got your Pruises and Fart Can Fiats and what not, but those are getting bigger too!
Look at the number of SUVs per family vs 20 years ago! Where there are families and kids, there are large cars, so no matter what you call the space a jumbo one or a compact one, when you're fighting for a parking spot with Stanley Lo (wait, I forgot he always finds parking in downtown Burlingame *eyeroll*) if you have this giant truck and you can't find a spot except a compact one, by golly, you're gonna find a way to fit in that compact space! And while you're at it, make the drivers of the cars parked next to you sometimes not being able to enter/egress their vehicle. They say the automobile was the symbol of freedom, now it can turn you into a prisoner, if ya know what I mean?
These urban planners are really only fooling themselves, and we continue to see, despite all the talk of bike riding/Uber/ public transportation, etc, if you have a house, you have a multiple cars and parking has never become more difficult than now. It's a huge issue in San Francisco, and it's made worse by the state and cities that allow developers to have a certain percentage of compact spaces. Is this because municipalities believe that more people are driving smaller cars? No, it's because it allows developers to offer more residential space (more $$$) relative to parking space. So developers want to maximize living square footage on a lot, while minimize non-sellable square footage, so they opt to go for max allowable compact spots (can be up to 50%) to make more money.
Given how big real estate is to the CA economy, you bet those lobbies are greasing the paws of the legislators. Of course, it's all for the "public good".
Take it from me, Bruce Dickinson, planning and building to something that does not reflect reality only causes problems. Decisions need to be driven by reality, not some idealized theoretical notion (e.g High Speed Rail)
Posted by: Bruce Dickinson | May 14, 2016 at 03:44 PM
I jsut bang my old guy door against the SUV door when I get out. The edge of my door looks like a rainbow. Land Rovers have the best colors to add to my collection
Posted by: old guy | May 14, 2016 at 11:03 PM
People are driving Suv's that are large enough to transport farm animals.
Why the need is a mystery.
Posted by: Samiselfie | May 15, 2016 at 11:13 AM
It's time to take back one of the motorcycle spaces. The big bikes will fit in the other one. And if you really want to quiet down Burlingame stop fretting about the shooting range and outlaw Harleys. If you outlaw Harleys only outlaws will have Harleys.
Posted by: hillsider | May 17, 2016 at 12:42 AM
"People are driving SUVs that are large enough to transport farm animals. Why the need is a mystery"
Looming obesity?
Posted by: pat giorni | May 17, 2016 at 11:30 AM
So glad you posted it, I am so tired of trying to squeeze into a compact space when a SUV is in my lane. I so want to slap a note on their window saying: Your MASSIVE SUV is not a COMPACT car. Please leave the space for those of us WHO DO drive compacts.
Posted by: Becca | May 19, 2016 at 07:13 PM