Ester Fung Summary

Car dependency is one of the most important problems in the United States. Owning a personal car is mandatory in most small towns. All roads are designed for cars without pedestrian ways, and so much of the land is reserved for parking lots. Pedestrian-friendly cities’ rates are really low when it is compared with car-friendly ones.

The wide use of transportation contributes to how society is increasingly turning away from walking. Since, the majority of people drive either their own cars or a form of public transportation regularly they have lost the sense of distance. People may never even know that the daily commute they may take to work is faster to walk to then it is to wait in traffic for. For example, recently my roommate invited me along so she should get a tattoo at a parlor in our hometown. We had to take a bus to get near to the location because it is a bit far away from UCR, but once we got off at a bus stop instead of walking the short distance that would take about 15 minutes we decided to call an Uber. We both haven’t been in our hometown in a while, so instead of enjoying it we decided to take a car. At my high school, students were allowed to drive themselves to the campus beginning junior year. I never got my license during high school, so I would either be picked up by one of my parents or a friend who drove to themselves to school would. However, whenever one of my parents would pick me up they would refuse to pick me up directly in front of the school because of the ridiculous amount of traffic. They had me walk a little over half a mile each day after school to the exact same spot. Even though, half a mile wasn’t a long walk I realized a difference between taking that small walk and being driven home by

The automobile and the city of tomorrow can coexist although it is not preferred due to the difficulty of driving into a hectic crowded city. NYC rarely ever has parking, which people will pay more than $40 to just park their car for less than six hours. Driving a car in the city is expensive, and people risk the chances of accidents due to the un-experienced drivers who drive in the city.

From here on, I am going to illustrate my lifestyle in a rural area versus a well developed city. I came from a small village in China. Walking to places has been build on me since I was a little kid; it was one of my habit. Back in the days, nothing seems handy to own. I remembered it was indeed hard to own a small motorcycle, not to speak of cars. On account of that, I treasure walking gratefully. I can walk to my school, relative's house, convenient stores, as well as markets for food. That has been my lifestyle for ten years until I came to the United States. My lifestyle has changed from walking to commuting through buses. San Francisco is a fairly developed city. We can access to every part of SF through muni, and the buses come in very often. Gradually, I start taking the bus to school, to hangouts with friends, and restaurants. I don’t remember when but I started to feel and think buses are so convenient. I rely on buses so much that I became surprisingly lazy. I would choose to take the bus even when the destination is

Steen, Karen. "How Leftover Urban Spaces Can Fix Big Problems for San Francisco." SPUR. N.p., 23 Nov. 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2016. .

Andrew Simms, a policy director and head of the Climate Change Program for the New Economics Foundation in England, presents his argument about the impact SUV’s have on our roadways, and the air we breathe. “Would You Buy a Car That Looked like This? “. The title alone gives great insight on what the article is going to be about, (vehicles). “They clog the streets and litter the pages of weekend colour *supplements. Sport utility vehicles or SUV’s have become badges of middle class aspiration” (Simms 542). Simms opening statement not only gives his opinion on how SUV’s are the new trend, but he also paints a picture of what we see every day driving down our roadways. Simms also compares the tobacco industry’s gap between image and reality

Cuebed wrote an article on July 21, 2017 about how free parking and parking minimums make living on big cities much more expensive. The article showed how it is a waste of space to have so much parking and there are more effective and faster ways to move around without a car. The article also showed an example of this with mexico city and how they cut down on parking spaces.

The article Right-of-way gentrification conflict, commodification and cosmopolitanism by Sig Langegger, looks at the idea of gentrification through three different lenses. The conflict aspect, the change in economic value, and the effects on specific ethnic groups. The article brings attention to large problems in Denver as a result of Gentrification. Street parking has become a huge issue and the City tends to favor retail customers over homeowners involving the parking spaces in front of their homes. according to Langeggers interview with nearby homeowners, "One resident uses traffic cones to save the parking space in front of his house; another boasted of once deflating an offending car's tires as 'payback' for stealing his spot" Langegger (2015) para 18. I think this statement says a lot about the issues homeowners are facing with gentrification that exhibit more than financial problems. They cannot even find parking in front of their own home.

Adam complains about parking at least three time a day. He is late to economics class every Tuesday and Thursday, and Professor Willis simply cannot take it anymore. Professor Willis told Adam that he needs to wake up earlier in order to get a spot on campus, but sleep is vital to all college students. Sleep should not be compensated for the time to find parking. Adelphi should instead listen to the proposal in this essay, which deals with the plan of action to create more parking spots on campus. Spots are limited, and Adam is not alone. There is a large number of people who have a problem finding a parking spot. Parking is the number one problem on campus for both residents and commuters and a solution is needed. Adelphi has the money and power to create more parking spots on campus by extending both of the underground parking lots. The benefits of extending the underground parking lots will allow for Adelphi to cut down on their shuttle service, permit all students to park on campus, and for less accidents to occur.

Drivers can spend upwards $150 dollars a week on gasoline, but this is not the only negative impact driving has. Automobile inefficiency and the fact that they run on fossil fuels have detrimental and long term impacts on the environment. It has become increasingly apparent that suburban development in the future needs to focus on building communities that require less travel by traditional means and “closer knit”

The fist economic concept presented in the article is cost-benefit analysis in regards to adding more density. The newly proposed land use element policy wants to address the demand for housing, employment, and lifestyle choices. They would like to encourage larger open space which could accommodate mixed -use development. This would help reduce the number of residents that commute out of Long Beach for work. The plan would also encourage more section 8 housing projects that can accommodate low income individuals. Majority of residents living in Long Beach believe that this proposal would incur a huge cost on the city. Long Beach is a parking impacted city with poor public transit system. Adding more density would not help the parking crisis that Long Beach faces; it can potentially make it worse. Residents also fear that adding more density in the city could lead to an increase in crime.

As I was growing up I remember how excited I was for my sixteenth birthday. I would finally receive my license and I would be able to drive the gold Pontiac G6 that sat in my driveway for three months prior to my birthday. I was looking forward to driving myself to school. At that time I was unaware that my high school required a parking permit in order to have a car parked in their lot. Parking permits were $100 for the year, which seemed outrageous since there were more than enough spots for every student and the parking lot was recently repaved. As I grew even older and decided to come to college, I realized that parking on campus was going to be $360 for a full year. Luckily, I had enough

Thus, with the increasing number of automobile ownerships, parking has become a confusing as well as conflicting subject for a number of people. One reason for this is, “Few cities bothered to conduct a site-specific analysis to establish how much parking was sufficient but relied instead on guidelines published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers” (Broaddus, 2007). As a result, over the years, this has led to a huge oversupply of parking,that essentially promoted increased vehicle use, along with traffic congestion and harmful air pollution, as argued by Don Shoup, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles who teaches on planning and economics. He suggests, with so much free parking motorist cruised around searching for free or low priced parking, contributing to the congestion and environmental hazards. It is the opinion of this author, that the issue revolves around the lack of properly managing the aggregate demand for parking in relation with prices and the real GDP. If the

The editorial article argues about the need of more EV charging stations in California because of the continuous growth of people using electric vehicles. The author started with a claim saying that California have the highest consumption of electric vehicles. The author also stated that they don’t have enough charging stations that will accompany all the electrical vehicle owners. The problem is that even though that some people use electric vehicles, the need to make some more charging stations is not necessary because not everyone drives an electric vehicle and there’s still a significant amount of people driving cars that uses gas.

San Francisco is one of America’s most vibrant, richly complex cities to reside in. Anyone who has ever visited or lived in San Francisco knows that available parking is a scarcity. Although well known for its great climate, amazing landmarks, unique attractions and diverse culture, the shortage of parking space is a force to reckon with. The parking demand in San Francisco is so intense that often residents and commuters are routinely frustrated with trying to seize a parking space whether for work, shopping or storing their vehicle. Furthermore, this just downplays how important a parking spot can be for a considerable amount of San Francisco 's occupants. Drivers often scan between 10-30 minutes, once in a while futile, just to locate a desired parking spot. The time connected with discovering a parking spot limits the comfort of traveling in the car and is an implicit expense of driving in San Francisco. Raising prices for residential parking permits, increasing meter rates and changing off-street parking standards are three key areas that require attention to help resolve this dilemma.