I was disagreeing with you (somewhat, depending on context) until you got to the part about people having more cars than they have driveway/garage space for. Oh yeah. In that scenario that's definitely a problem.
this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2025
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Unpopular Opinion
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The worse one is people that have garages and don't use them. Then they complain when their car gets dented by hail.
Got a neighbor who does just that. I come home with my trashcan in the middle of the street because waste collection can't reach the edge of my driveway with their truck. All cuz that asshole has 2 cars on either side of my driveway
See, I've got this plan, get one of those "POD" things, or really just a mock up, and put it in front of my house, just off the curb. BOOM! It's an extra room. Get some furniture. Have friends over for tea. Even maybe rent it out aerbnb style.
...or maybe one of those tiny-home trailers?
I'm seeing people with travel trailers parked on the curb. Seems like a viable expansion. Think of all the restaurants that usurped public space to put more tables out. At lease in my town they've been able to maintain their gains. Why couldn't an individual do that, too?
These things have a really shitty door. Stuff inside the POD can shift and literally block the door from being opened on the outside to get your stuff out after using it to move. They're also like a quarter of the size of a standard shipping container. Living in one would be cramped 🤣
Shitty property planning with no off-street parking results in people needing to park on the street in a car centric city where you need a car to function.
Not city/property planning's fault tho, it's the people with no choice but to park on the street that are the problem!
/s
Ffs, sure there is the case of some dick parking outside your home, but the real problem is with city and property planning. Not the fault of individial owners by and large.
Street parking is about the most effective traffic calming strategy there is. It's done intentionally, not a result of bad planning.
you must be joking 😅
Yes, and building permits need to be denied if they don't include adequate plans for off-street parking.
This is actually already happening, and it has played out horribly in real life. This is what has caused our north american urban sprawl and has demolished most of our downtown areas. It hurts small businesses because they can't just open a cafe in a small town, now they also need to build parking next to it. It spreads everything out and makes car dependence worse. On top of that, there is no consensus on how much parking is "adequate".
This video is fascinating, and changed my perception of parking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUNXFHpUhu8
Partially agree, but this inevitably leads to unaffordable rent when developers are forced to add an 8 spot parking garage in what was once zoned for a single family home which isn't economically feasible. Instead, they have to buy up multiple lots and put up a huge apartment building. This adds to upfront cost but it works due to it's scale; however, this also bars most home owners from legally adding more homes to their property while also making it more difficult for developers to add more desity by adding that much more upfront cost. Underground structures are hellah expensive.
The real issue here is over-reliance on motor-vehicles and under-performing public transit. There is a bus I have to take to get downtown from time to time, but what should be a bus lane is a parking lane after 5pm so it's always late and I'm pretty sure having a huge accordion bus weaving in and out of traffic every 2 blocks makes traffic worse.
I haven't owned a car in over ten years, so I don't need to take up that extra space to store a vehicle. I dream of living in a dense, car-free area that has a robust cycling network, trams, etc. Only service vehicles are allowed and the only parking spots are handicap. Of course, such a place doesn't exist in the north american continent, or any where really except maybe in the Netherlands.
You'll end up with less housing that way. Let alone the extra costs you're taxing on people who don't or cannot drive.
Flip the law around. Deny registering a car without proof of a parking spot. No spot for your car? No car for you.
I agree with this for long-term parking, but I'm not upset by occasional short term parking in the street. I can't really expect my neighbor's holiday guests to squeeze 4 cars into a one car driveway.
It also depends on the location I think. My street is extremely wide, so it's not a big deal. On narrow or crowded streets I would probably feel differently.
What about in a dead-end neighborhood?
If you own all the land around the dead-end street, then I could see an argument to it effectively being your private driveway, and if you own the last property on the street (such that nobody needs access, including MAINTENANCE and TRAIL access), then I could see an argument that the road was made too long and you are reclaiming a bit of it. Otherwise, you are still storing your stuff on public property, just with fewer effected by your misdemeanor.
Lol this is the most unhinged, flat out ignorant Karen shit I have ever heard. Definitely unpopular. Unpopular because it is wrong, but I guess it still works.
Nope, us urbanists are getting pretty tired of entitled people thinking they should get ~~free~~ taxpayer subsidized parking when there isn't enough room for all of the cars. City streets are some of the valuable land available and the city pays to maintain it, clean it, and hold it for private vehicles that do nothing to bring value to the neighborhood.
We saw during COVID how valuable that space could be. More walking space. Sidewalk cafes and outdoor dining. More space for people, not for cars.
If you want parking in a city then you should pay for it yourself. Either buy a home with a garage, pay to put it into a long term garage, or join the revolution of not using a car at all and push for better public transit instead. If my tax dollars should go anywhere, it's towards clean reliable transit instead of parking spaces for private vehicles.
I'm with OP. Public space belongs to the public, not to cars.
By an extension, with all those private cars in the street, buses are stuck with them. It's practically a slowly moving parking lot. Public buses demand publicly available lanes, not occupied by your private vehicles. We tax payers didn't pay the bills just to maintain the roads where you occupy with your private vehicles all day and all night.