Market Urbanism

Liberalizing cities | From the bottom up

“Market Urbanism” refers to the synthesis of classical liberal economics and ethics (market), with an appreciation of the urban way of life and its benefits to society (urbanism). We advocate for the emergence of bottom up solutions to urban issues, as opposed to ones imposed from the top down.

Happy Park(ing) Day 2008

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I guess I must not be hip enough to have known about this beforehand, but there’s a very interesting citywide event happening here in New York today called Park(ing) Day. All throughout New York City, people are reclaiming parking spaces for their street-side enjoyment. It’s a very novel idea that helps convey a very important economic point: the opportunity cost of public parking spaces.

Of course, the users are gladly feeding the meters, so who could complain? Who says we can’t let the market decide the highest-and-best use for the spaces?!

parkingdaynyc.org

Here’s a video from last year’s event:

  • Bill Nelson

    Not a bad idea.

    Maybe I’ll follow a couple of these parking space “capitalists” home and make the best use of the sidewalk in front of their homes by setting up a street business.

    What do you think would sell in Park Slope? Bulk tobacco?

    Damn laws won’t let me sell cheap fireworks, ammo, or crack.

    Maybe I should pimp my ladies in front of their homes; talk about a good use of sidewalk space!

    Eh, maybe I’ll just hand out Bibles instead.

    Do you think Wal-Mart could grab the sidewalk space in front of Connecticut Muffin…

  • Bill Nelson

    Not a bad idea.

    Maybe I’ll follow a couple of these parking space “capitalists” home and make the best use of the sidewalk in front of their homes by setting up a street business.

    What do you think would sell in Park Slope? Bulk tobacco?

    Damn laws won’t let me sell cheap fireworks, ammo, or crack.

    Maybe I should pimp my ladies in front of their homes; talk about a good use of sidewalk space!

    Eh, maybe I’ll just hand out Bibles instead.

    Do you think Wal-Mart could grab the sidewalk space in front of Connecticut Muffin…

  • Bill Nelson

    Not a bad idea.

    Maybe I’ll follow a couple of these parking space “capitalists” home and make the best use of the sidewalk in front of their homes by setting up a street business.

    What do you think would sell in Park Slope? Bulk tobacco?

    Damn laws won’t let me sell cheap fireworks, ammo, or crack.

    Maybe I should pimp my ladies in front of their homes; talk about a good use of sidewalk space!

    Eh, maybe I’ll just hand out Bibles instead.

    Do you think Wal-Mart could grab the sidewalk space in front of Connecticut Muffin…

  • Ha!

    Depends. Do you want to make money or annoy Park Slopers?

    If you want to make money in your Park Slope parking space, sell strollers, cloth diapers, Iphones, vintage clothes, and fair-trade coffee.

    If you want to annoy them, sell Bibles, disposable diapers, vintage Bush-Cheney bumper stickers, and non-fair-trade coffee.

  • Ha!

    Depends. Do you want to make money or annoy Park Slopers?

    If you want to make money in your Park Slope parking space, sell strollers, cloth diapers, Iphones, vintage clothes, and fair-trade coffee.

    If you want to annoy them, sell Bibles, disposable diapers, vintage Bush-Cheney bumper stickers, and non-fair-trade coffee.

  • Ha!

    Depends. Do you want to make money or annoy Park Slopers?

    If you want to make money in your Park Slope parking space, sell strollers, cloth diapers, Iphones, vintage clothes, and fair-trade coffee.

    If you want to annoy them, sell Bibles, disposable diapers, vintage Bush-Cheney bumper stickers, and non-fair-trade coffee.

  • Bill Nelson

    Incidentally, the problem you cite is rent control for parking spaces. What’s the market rate for a space in Park Slope? About $30 per day? It would be interesting to see how many Parking Day People, on a regular basis, would be willing to shell out $30 for their patch of green.

    Also, just as with rent control, once you rent a curbside space with your car, you never want to leave it again. There have been times when I was so happy to find a space in Park Slope that I was tempted to leave my car there forever because the space was too valuable to give up. (Unfortunately, alternate-side-of-the-street rules destroyed those plans…)

    Perhaps, in a free market, the merchants would purchase the spaces in front of their stores and rent them to customers, perhaps for free with a purchase — just as private parking lots now operate.

    And Parking Day People could also purchase spaces. But my guess is that the spaces would be quickly turned over for a profit to the merchants. Those folks certainly don’t discount the prices of their brownstones and I’ll bet that they would also sell their parking spaces for top dollar.

    And when I buy up a few blocks worth of browstones, perhaps I’ll demolish them all, and pave over the land with a huge Wal-Mart.

    Or would it be more prudent to pave over Prospect Park with the East Coast’s Largest Truck Auction…?

  • Bill Nelson

    Incidentally, the problem you cite is rent control for parking spaces. What’s the market rate for a space in Park Slope? About $30 per day? It would be interesting to see how many Parking Day People, on a regular basis, would be willing to shell out $30 for their patch of green.

    Also, just as with rent control, once you rent a curbside space with your car, you never want to leave it again. There have been times when I was so happy to find a space in Park Slope that I was tempted to leave my car there forever because the space was too valuable to give up. (Unfortunately, alternate-side-of-the-street rules destroyed those plans…)

    Perhaps, in a free market, the merchants would purchase the spaces in front of their stores and rent them to customers, perhaps for free with a purchase — just as private parking lots now operate.

    And Parking Day People could also purchase spaces. But my guess is that the spaces would be quickly turned over for a profit to the merchants. Those folks certainly don’t discount the prices of their brownstones and I’ll bet that they would also sell their parking spaces for top dollar.

    And when I buy up a few blocks worth of browstones, perhaps I’ll demolish them all, and pave over the land with a huge Wal-Mart.

    Or would it be more prudent to pave over Prospect Park with the East Coast’s Largest Truck Auction…?

  • Bill Nelson

    Incidentally, the problem you cite is rent control for parking spaces. What’s the market rate for a space in Park Slope? About $30 per day? It would be interesting to see how many Parking Day People, on a regular basis, would be willing to shell out $30 for their patch of green.

    Also, just as with rent control, once you rent a curbside space with your car, you never want to leave it again. There have been times when I was so happy to find a space in Park Slope that I was tempted to leave my car there forever because the space was too valuable to give up. (Unfortunately, alternate-side-of-the-street rules destroyed those plans…)

    Perhaps, in a free market, the merchants would purchase the spaces in front of their stores and rent them to customers, perhaps for free with a purchase — just as private parking lots now operate.

    And Parking Day People could also purchase spaces. But my guess is that the spaces would be quickly turned over for a profit to the merchants. Those folks certainly don’t discount the prices of their brownstones and I’ll bet that they would also sell their parking spaces for top dollar.

    And when I buy up a few blocks worth of browstones, perhaps I’ll demolish them all, and pave over the land with a huge Wal-Mart.

    Or would it be more prudent to pave over Prospect Park with the East Coast’s Largest Truck Auction…?

  • Bill Nelson

    Incidentally, the problem you cite is rent control for parking spaces. What’s the market rate for a space in Park Slope? About $30 per day? It would be interesting to see how many Parking Day People, on a regular basis, would be willing to shell out $30 for their patch of green.

    Also, just as with rent control, once you rent a curbside space with your car, you never want to leave it again. There have been times when I was so happy to find a space in Park Slope that I was tempted to leave my car there forever because the space was too valuable to give up. (Unfortunately, alternate-side-of-the-street rules destroyed those plans…)

    Perhaps, in a free market, the merchants would purchase the spaces in front of their stores and rent them to customers, perhaps for free with a purchase — just as private parking lots now operate.

    And Parking Day People could also purchase spaces. But my guess is that the spaces would be quickly turned over for a profit to the merchants. Those folks certainly don’t discount the prices of their brownstones and I’ll bet that they would also sell their parking spaces for top dollar.

    And when I buy up a few blocks worth of browstones, perhaps I’ll demolish them all, and pave over the land with a huge Wal-Mart.

    Or would it be more prudent to pave over Prospect Park with the East Coast’s Largest Truck Auction…?

  • Benjamin Hemric

    Here’s a link to an interesting related article that’s on the web, “Cities rethink wisdom of 50s-era parking standards,” AP, 9/20/08 (?):

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-09-20-less-parking_N.htm?csp=34

    – – – – –

    P.S. — I haven’t had time to continue the rent control discussion. I wrote a long-ish post using a PC at the library and somehow I click in the wrong space — and the whole thing was lost!

  • Benjamin Hemric

    Here’s a link to an interesting related article that’s on the web, “Cities rethink wisdom of 50s-era parking standards,” AP, 9/20/08 (?):

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-09-20-less-parking_N.htm?csp=34

    – – – – –

    P.S. — I haven’t had time to continue the rent control discussion. I wrote a long-ish post using a PC at the library and somehow I click in the wrong space — and the whole thing was lost!

  • Benjamin Hemric

    Here’s a link to an interesting related article that’s on the web, “Cities rethink wisdom of 50s-era parking standards,” AP, 9/20/08 (?):

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-09-20-less-parking_N.htm?csp=34

    – – – – –

    P.S. — I haven’t had time to continue the rent control discussion. I wrote a long-ish post using a PC at the library and somehow I click in the wrong space — and the whole thing was lost!

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