[katykelly]

Good grief . There is no parking in Austin .

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

More likely, this asinine move will end all discretionary trips to downtown. Downtown merchants will be closing up shop, and relocating to the suburban malls.

[The Antiyuppie]

I’m willing to ignore this, because according to Texans I’ve met, Austin is not actually a part of Texas.

[BobL]

Best wishes. But anyone with HALF A BRAIN will provide parking.

[Donkey Odious]

Austin: the Portland of Texas....

[Paladin2]

Free Parking is what made America Great.

Pay parking is geographically associated with Peoples' Republics.

[Political Junkie Too]

...encouraging people to use their cars rather than bikes, buses and rail.

It's Texas. Why not add more of these instead?

-PJ

[Don Corleone]

Agenda 21 folks..agenda 21.

[NewHampshireDuo]

Ah, the authors of Agenda 21 are smiling.

I’ve spent a lot of time in Austin (on business) and it’s one of the few cities I’ve enjoyed simply because you can park with a fair amount of ease. I tend to avoid spending much time in other cities where attempting to park just raises blood pressure.

[Osage Orange]

I guess....Chicago now has $6.25 an hour parking meters!!

I wonder how that will work out for them.....

[elkfersupper]

The people running Austin and Texas don’t want us down there seeing what they’re doing.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Speaking as one who was for many years involved in the ownership, leasing, and management of a downtown Charlotte office building and attached parking garage, I have no problem whatever with the city eliminating the minimum parking requirement. Let the market decide. Parking, in and of itself, is a monetary loser, but it is necessary to have adequate parking in order to lease office space.

The building with which I was associated had far more than minimum required by city code, and the "excess" parking served us well as a "loss leader"; the building remained fully leased, or nearly so.

Now, if Austin were to institute a maximum parking space limit for every private office or residential building, then you'd have a major problem, especially in that the city is already competing with private parking providers in the form of metered on-street parking, municipal (taxpayer-funded, in other words) parking decks and lots, and mass transit.

One more problem for owners/operators of private real estate: hefty taxes, over and above property taxes, imposed on parking. Make parking expensive by creating artificial shortages and high taxes, and that spiffy new light rail or streetcar line starts to look more attractive.

[Arrowhead1952]

This is all part of mayor Shelly Lee Leffingwell (yes, HIS first name is Shelly) and the Austin silly council to FORCE people to use pubic transportation. It started years ago with the “smart growth plan” by a previous mayor.

I hate the Capital Metro bus system. I had jury duty for Travis county and had to take a bus to the courthouse. Sure, it drops you off less than two blocks away, but the bus stopped at every telephone pole to take a leak, like a dog does at trees.

[D-fendr]

This reminds me of the 1970s and Austin’s solution to too much traffic:

Don’t build more roads.

[meyer]

This’ll help downtown Austin - NOT!

This silly “we hate cars” experiment fails everywhere it’s tried, yet the insane “planners” and other liberal statists keep trying it. Bottom line - it it isn’t convenient, people won’t do it. Cars are convenient, busses and bicycles less so, and rail even less than that.

[MaxMax]

Hey honey, lets take the kids downtown for dinner tonight,
I'll lube the bicycle chains an belt down the baby carrier.

Did Austin sign up for agenda 21? Any town will die without traffic, dead.

[Jonx6]

I believe there is a central buisness district(CBD) that already doesn’t require parking for the 6th st. and warehouse district bars.