Comments on: DDA Sends Parking Increase to Council

By: Patricia Lesko

Patricia Lesko — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:21:28 +0000

Those students (the ones who reside in Ann Arbor) are residents and, as such, would be perfectly free to do whatever they wanted with their hypothetical “free” time in a parking garage. Their rents provide a percentage of the tax base. Do all 40,000 students have cars, I wonder? I think not.

I suppose the bottom line is that Birmingham officials are dealing with a smaller population (yes), overall (19,000 residents), but the focus in the case of parking is not on making money at every turn OFF of the residents, but rather providing a courtesy service TO the residents. The City could easily issue permits, E-Z passes, SmartCards, whatever, to residents to determine who could take advantage of “free” parking.

Taxpayers subsidize thousands of bus passes for employees of downtown businesses. Why not two hours of free parking for residents, Joan? Just because a lot of people might take advantage of it? Isn’t that the point of providing services, so that the majority of people enjoy them? As for merchant validation of parking, how’s about a nice DDA program in conjunction with the merchants to better publicize who does it, and what it means, exactly? Signs in the parking garages listing participating merchants would be wonderful.

By: Steve Bean

Steve Bean — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:48:12 +0000

By way of contrast on the issue of “tips”: Three maintenance guys spent more than an hour in my apartment house basement last week cleaning up several inches deep of backed up sewage. When I tried to give them five bucks each, just as a sign of appreciation (and so they could get a drink after work, maybe), their unanimous response was, “We can’t take that–it’s our job.”

By: Joan Lowenstein

Joan Lowenstein — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:18:44 +0000

Birmingham is not a very good comparison. They don’t have university staff, students, and visitors. If we gave free time, it would be used by students going to class or visitors to the university. The UM has 40,000 students, 37,000 staff and employees and, on any given day, 10,000 contractors. UM owns 23,000 parking spaces. It wouldn’t do downtown much good to provide a lot of free spaces if none were available for retail customers.

By: Steve Bean

Steve Bean — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:13:18 +0000

Here’s a simpler statement of the purpose of the DDA, from their home page:

“The mission of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority (DDA) is to undertake public improvements that have the greatest impact in strengthening the downtown area and attracting new private investments.”

Also from their web site, as I noted on another thread:

“Moreover, well over 50 downtown businesses validate parking for their customers, making it possible to park for free in the center of the action, near world-class restaurants and retail shops, extraordinary museums, galleries, and concerts, and a host of other attractions.”

By: Edward Vielmetti

Edward Vielmetti — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:29:08 +0000

The role of the DDA is to increase property values downtown, not to provide ample parking. Here’s the text from the statute:

“AN ACT to provide for the establishment of a downtown development authority; to prescribe its powers and duties; to correct and prevent deterioration in business districts; to encourage historic preservation; to authorize the acquisition and disposal of interests in real and personal property; to authorize the creation and implementation of development plans in the districts; to promote the economic growth of the districts; to create a board; to prescribe its powers and duties; to authorize the levy and collection of taxes; to authorize the issuance of bonds and other evidences of indebtedness; to authorize the use of tax increment financing; to reimburse downtown development authorities for certain losses of tax increment revenues; and to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state officials.”

By: Stew Nelson

Stew Nelson — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 16:11:55 +0000

“….parking pays for itself: it’s the people who park who pay for it.”

This statement cuts to the heart of a major problem with government in general. No one knows who REALLY pays a parking fee, City Income Tax or Property Tax. As Roger Hewitt correctly states, parking fees are indeed initially paid by the people who actually use the meter or park in the structure. However, if we include in the equation all the people that boycott driving downtown because of the hassle and cost of parking and drive to a mall because there are no parking fees then it is the retailer that pays in reduced revenue from price senstive shoppers. The property owner also pays because thier property is worth less. The DDA and Ciy also pay because property tax bills are lower. So you can see that the real answer to the question of who pays is….it depends! The City of Birmingham must think that it is the retailers and property property owners that pay as they offer free parking for a limited period of time.

By: Joel Batterman

Joel Batterman — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:54:25 +0000

I don’t guess local figures are easy to come by, but I’m not sure a drop in demand is merely a possibility. According to the Federal Highway Administration, Michiganders drove almost six percent less in November 2008 than they did a year earlier. We’d be far better served by investing the parking structure money in frequent transit service, not to mention safe bicycle and pedestrian facilities. When people take the latter, cheaper modes downtown, after all, they’re left with more money to spend in DDA businesses, instead of subsidizing ExxonMobil and indoor ski slopes in Dubai.

By: Dave Cahill

Dave Cahill — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:16:21 +0000

I’m impressed with the care the DDA is giving to the parking fee rates and other issues. I think the underground parking structure is great, because it will finally end any legitimate reason for people to say they can’t find parking downtown.

As for a possible drop in demand, we should remember that “In Michigan There Can Be Nothing Wrong With The Car.” 8-)

By: David Nacht

David Nacht — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:57:25 +0000

Fred– AATA have taken price elasticity into account, looking at both national data and considering local factors. We just mailed city councilmembers data on this. david nacht, board chair, aata

By: Edward Vielmetti

Edward Vielmetti — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:17:20 +0000

If you want to find a spot from your phone, you can call +1 734 272 0909 and get current parking space information.

If you happen to have an iPhone there’s also this iPhone app at http://a2-park.appspot.com

Please drive carefully.