ACCOMMODATION BUCHAREST

Parking Management Best Practices

The typical automobile is parked 23 hours a day. Where and how can make a big difference to economic development, traffic reduction, smart growth, historic preservation, and many other planning efforts. The parking management strategies described in this book will help planners increase parking facility efficiency and reduce parking demand. Parking management offers an alternative to traditional predict and provide parking planning, which has contributed to widespread auto dependency and urban sprawl. Instead of providing plentiful free parking, parking management provides optimal parking supply and pricing. Its benefits include support for transit-oriented development; reduced stormwater management costs, water pollution, and heat island effects; improved travel options for nondrivers; lower housing costs; and more livable communities. For planners who need to establish more accurate and flexible parking standards, this book is a blueprint for developing an integrated parking plan. It explains how to determine parking supply and affect parking demand, as well as how to calculate parking facility costs. It also offers information about shared parking, parking maximums, financial incentives, tax reform, pricing methods, and other management techniques. What types of locations benefit from parking management? Places with perceived parking problems. Areas with rapidly expanding population, business activity, or traffic. Commercial districts and other places with compact land-use patterns. Urban areas in need of redevelopment and infill. Places with high levels of walking or public transit or places that want to encourage those modes. Districts where parking problems hinder economic development. Areas with high land values Neighborhoods concerned with equity, including fairness to nondrivers. Places with environmental concerns.

Today was...interesting. This picture in no way represents the day, it's just the only one I took (so I'd remember where I'd parked!).

Here was my day:
Flight scheduled to leave Dulles Airport at 8:00. Rained whole 2 hour drive down there. Uh oh. Yup, flight was delayed. At first, b/c of mechanical problems. Then JFK airport said we should stay b/c of their thunderstorms. JetBlue so kindly told those of us with a connecting flight to Burlington that we could stay the night at DC and leave in the morning, or chance it that our JFK flight would be delayed too. So we finally boarded at 9:15. Yay, earlier than they thought we would! Oh, but then we're stuck on the plane and can't take off b/c of JFK. So we take off at 10:30. JFK won't let us land b/c of storms, so we have to circle in the air for an hour. Finally land at 12:30...but due to problems can't actually leave *the plane* until they hook up stairs to the plane and bring us a shuttle, as we don't have a gate to use. We get to the airport at 1:00. This is bad, as my connecting flight to VT was scheduled to leave at 10:55. And yes, my connecting flight was delayed...but took off 15 minutes ago.

So, I hook up with 4 other people going to Burlington. We'd been talking in Dulles and on the plane about what to do. There's Allen, the manager of a non-profit agency, his employee Trista, college student Rachel, and retired professor at Univ. of Washington and Vermont, Pam. Trista tries very hard to find us hotel rooms. Nothing. Finally gets one, but it's $200+ a night. So Rachel, Pam, and I decide to tough it out at JFK. Our VT flight isn't till 9:15 am.

Since we'd left to the baggage claim to help Trista and Allen find their luggage, we can't wait at the terminal. And security doesn't open again for 2.5 more hours... Not enough time to sleep, so we sat outside the security gate and just talked. They don't open security till 4:00...but we can't get in since we might be a "security threat." Why? Because the lovely ticket guy in Dulles who got us our secured seats on this flight printed out tickets that said "June 21" on them, even though it actually leaves the next morning...now June 22. Aaah. Luckily it wasn't hard to fix, but that was a lot of fun.

I did manage to get about 2 hours of sleep. It was really nice having Rachel and Pam around, because we watched out for each other and could walk around w/o taking all our stuff (I had a wheeled suitcase and laptop bag). I also was the only one interested in sleeping, as everyone else I knew going to VT was going home and planned to sleep there. I also can sleep pretty much anywhere.

Morning flight to VT was, of course, delayed, but only by about a half an hour.

Finally arrived at David's 12 hours later than I was supposed to be there.

For those who might be unfamiliar with Lincoln Center, this aerial view.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
Home of The Metropolitan Opera, The New York City Ballet, The New York Philharmonic Orchestra and several other resident performing arts companies.