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��{ - i9 <br /> / � �, � � � � � � <br /> � 1 <br /> As was mentioned earlier, parking management refers to how public parking is controlled <br /> through prices, time limits, and other regulations. Why do we manage parking? The number one <br /> reason is to create "turnover" of spaces, meaning people leave the spaces after a while so that <br /> someone else may use them. ff there were always spaces available when and where people <br /> needed them, then parking management wouldn't be necessary. In compact downtown situations <br /> where there is competition for space, management is needed. A secondary reason that parking is <br /> managed is to generate revenue to operate parking facilities and perhaps to fund other programs <br /> as well. <br /> There are two primary tools that are available to cities to manage public parking, and the City <br /> Council must set policy on both of them in order for powntown Redwood City to be ready for <br /> the new visitors that will begin frequenting the azea later in the year. They are: <br /> 1. Prices <br /> � 2. Time Limits <br /> Prices and time limits must be recalibrated for the whole Downtown area in order to be ready for <br /> the opening of the "On Broadway" project. The area which will be examined is shown in Figure <br /> 1 on Page 33. <br /> Prices <br /> Why charge for parking? People love free parking, right? Why not give it to them? The answer <br /> could be summed up by the quote below: <br /> "Of course there's not enough parking. If you gave away free pizza, would fhere ever be <br /> enough pizza?P' <br /> Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck in Suburban Nation <br /> When the supply of any commodity is limited and demand for it is near or above that limited <br /> supply, the price goes up. If the commodity is free, then it will be quickly used up and exhausted <br /> by the �rst people who get to it, and there can be no rational distribution to those who might <br /> need it or want it more. <br /> This is the main reason to charge for parking in a downtown. The alternative of flooding the <br /> mazket with parking spaces is cost-prohibitive and is damaging to the features which make <br /> downtowns attractive, namely beauty, walkability, and compactness. Thus, the supply is limited. <br /> Struggling downtowns often have an overabundance of parking and almost always have spaces <br /> available when and where they are needed. Such places do not need to charge for parking and <br /> paste 13 <br />