Where's the Bus?
At a dinner party recently a friend of mine was talking about how we "Pay the sunshine tax", no arguments there. But then later in the night almost universally everyone will express their loathing of paid parking in Balboa Park. Far too few people realize we are paying a free parking tax everywhere we go.
My partner shot me a look that said "don't start shit at our friend's birthday party", just know that I started no shit! I know that having the argument in that venue, with my current quiver of retorts, is a recipe for getting my ass handed to me in the argument. I desperately want to convince people but everything I have to say is direct, prickly, and little more than a somewhat condescending lecture about good urbanism.
The very next day I went to a community planning group meeting to support a wonderful new housing development that would give some desperately needed new homes. The plan was met with resistance from a majority of the committee, who wanted: More parking, EV parking, affordable housing, a different color building, bike parking chargers, more green space, fewer floors, more floors of parking, more Victorian, etc., etc. As one of the people at the meeting mentioned to me afterwards, "They want it all: Parking, affordability, and smaller. But they can't have it all and what they really want is nothing to be built at all."
These people are not reachable, but my friends? My focus should be on convincing them. This morning I came across a segment from The San Diego Politics Show where host Matt Strabone asked how you justify paid Balboa Park parking to a family struggling to make ends meet. Howard Blackson's answer is a brilliant piece of rhetorical judo:
If a family is struggling or having a hard time, go say something to your city council person, because right now they're thinking about it, and say something such as, Where's the bus? Where's the trams? Where's the transit?
Next time a friend brings up the parking meters, I will be strategic, I will not harsh the vibes, but I will not let it slide. Yes, the parking is expensive, yes we do pay a hefty sunshine tax. I'm mad too. Then I'll drop a "Where's the bus? I don't want to pay for parking either!" No lecture and a subtle nudge towards making the city better.