Walkable parking -- or, a topic DNA might take the lead in exploring. But would Jeff Gahan allow DNA to stray from his leaden leash?

Earlier this afternoon, I satirized Develop New Albany. In the spirit of fair play, here's a civic topic that DNA or organizations like it might be able to play a positive role in discussing, educating and facilitating.

You'll want to visit the Reinventing Parking site and absorb the article in its entirety.

Does New Albany have a parking problem?

If yes, DNA might be of help in framing the debate. If no? Then DNA might be of help in framing the debate. But for so long as DNA is content to function as a strictly white-bread event organizer and social media shill for the city, neither outcome is possible.

Walkable Parking: How to Create Park-Once-and-Walk Districts, by Paul Barter

This post is about how to promote Walkable Parking. But, first, I had better talk about what it is, since the term is not (yet!) widely used.

Planning for Walkable Parking basically means working to create more park-once-and-walk districts where much of the parking is open to the public, even if it is privately owned. It means enabling local ‘parking pools’ and not caring if any particular site has enough on-site parking.

“Walkable Parking” is a way to make parking policy serve walkable urbanism, downtown revitalization, transit-oriented development and suburban retrofits. If you want a more multi-modal, less car-dependent, mobility system, Walkable Parking should be part of your strategy.

Walkable Parking usually reduces the pressure to build too much parking (albeit indirectly). It also opens pathways towards parking success without parking excess, especially when combined with the rest of the Adaptive Parking agenda.

That’s a big deal since so much conventional parking policy feeds traffic growth and car dependence. Conventional parking-minimums-based parking policy is harmful not only by promoting excessive parking but by promoting excessive ON-SITE parking. The result is that anyone arriving or departing by car typically does so directly to and from their destination building's parking lot. That is awful for walkability because most never engage on foot with the public realm nor the other businesses in the area.

As the name suggests, walkability is intimately linked with the Walkable Parking agenda. Each helps the other ...