Parking Reformer Lowenthal Continues to Get Attacked in the Press. Let’s Help Him Out

The bill says that excessive parking demandsby local government sometimes stymie development projects, andemployers worsen traffic congestion when they give employees freeparking. Maybe so, but it's hard to imagine how shifting therule-making to Sacramento will make anything better.

The bill already has been approved by theDemocrat-dominated Senate. It is opposed by Republicans, who rightlytake the position that parking decisions should be local decisions.

State Sen. Alan Lowenthal said Monday that abill he wrote to encourage cities, counties and businesses to reduceparking, traffic congestion and greenhouse gases has been taken out ofcontext.

Talk radio hosts, bloggers and editorial pages took aim atthe Long Beach Democrat, arguing that his Senate Bill 518 seeks to banfree parking in California.

Not true, the senator said.

Reporting from Sacramento -

State lawmakers are taking aim at what some of them see as a menace to California's environment: free parking.

Congratulations, state Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), you are thenew poster child for our remarkably dysfunctional Legislature.

Whyare you wasting your time and the taxpayers' money worrying about localparking lots instead of fixing the problems of the state government andthe Legislature, which is your job?

stopthem wrote:Lowenthal!!! why don't you do something good for CA residence and stopworrying about your friends who want to make money of parking. Peopleof Long Beach when its time to vote again, please put someone in officewho actually cares for people not someone who is just there to servetheir own interests. We are struggling financially and our legislatorsdon't care, all they want is more rules, regulations and laws so theycan tell us "you did wrong, now pay up" I really think it is about timethat WE THE PEOPLE of California put a stop to these useless andtyranic legislators with all the ridiculous ideas and rules.

But in California, environmentalists sayall that free parking comes at too high a cost- in greenhouse gasemissions. Environmentalists say if people drove less, there would bean environmental benefit.

With the support of green groups, the statesenate passed a plan offering cities and counties financial incentivesto slash the number of free parking spaces on the street and ingovernment-owned lots, and to reduce the number of free spacesbusinesses are required to provide.

Just when you thought environmental extremists couldn’t go any further,they surprise you with yet another ploy in their never-ending quest toturn back modernity. With the public push-back on the cap-and-tradescheme and creating man-made droughts to save a 2-inch fish,environmentalists have become craftier in their efforts. Always thevanguard of the latest environmental regulation, California has a newidea for getting polluters out of their cars: get rid of free parking.