Overparked

There are many reasons “too much” parking is bad for a downtown:

There is one and only one counter-argument, but it should be taken seriously:   because we are so car-oriented, having too little parking will simply deflect businesses and shops away from downtown.  No matter how nice the sidewalks or inviting the buildings, a street is not pedestrian-friendly if it has no pedestrians.

I’m always willing to consider more evidence, but I don’t think this argument holds for Austin.  There are good reasons to believe Austin’s downtown parking market suffers from market failures.

But an even simpler analysis is to compare Austin’s dowtown parking supply to other cities’.  If other cities get by with less, perhaps Austin could, too.