A New Way to Park on the Street: Evaluating the Spring Street Parklets in Downtown Los Angeles
Parklets are small public spaces created by converting car-parking spots into attractive areas for people to gather, recreate, or relax. First conceived in San Francisco in 2010, these spaces often feature benches, tables, chairs, and plants, but they can also have game tables, exercise equipment, and other innovative street furniture. The creation of these spaces provides an opportunity for residents and local businesses to build community and enhance the charm of the street, all at low cost to cities or public agencies. The city of Los Angeles installed its first parklets in early 2013, and this study seeks to examine the effect of these two parklets on their adjacent downtown community.
Policy Brief (pdf) | Publication: Reclaiming the Right of Way Evaluation Report: An Assessment of the Spring Street Parklets | Infographic | Project web page
Pricing Parking by Demand
In 2011, San Francisco adopted SFpark, the most innovative pricing program for parking since the invention of the parking meter. SFpark aims to vary the price of curb parking by location and time of day, with the goal of achieving a consistent block occupancy rate between 60 and 80 percent. This occupancy rate ensures that curb parking is both readily available and at the same time accommodates as many customers as possible for adjacent businesses. Over a period of two years, SFpark adjusted prices every two months in order to achieve the 60 to 80 percent occupancy rate, and this article assesses SFpark’s overall performance with respect to such price changes.
Policy Brief (pdf) | ACCESS Magazine Article “SFpark: Pricing Parking by Demand”