Circa 1877 (née Brick Brewery) | 20 fl | Complete

[ijmorlan]

Let’s talk about bread.

I went to the bakery and they were all out! We should have a government regulation that requires them to bake enough bread! Furthermore, the bread is too expensive. The regulation should require them to bake enough that the price is lower. In fact, while we’re at it, let’s require them to bake so much bread that the price drops to 0!

Seriously though, if we switch the discussion back to only large grocery stores (let’s suppose actual bakeries and small stores were exempt), a “minimum bread production” regulation would probably be less damaging than our parking minima. So large grocery stores would be sources of free bread on their dime. In the context of operating a Zehr’s, that’s probably just a small impact. Whereas parking minima frequently prevent good developments from happening at all.

The problem with this analogy is that if the parking supply isn't provided appropriately by the developer, public space ends up being used to supply the development with parking instead. If a grocery store doesn't make enough bread, it's not like we see illegal bread making operations spill over onto public space.

That’s what enforcement is for. It’s simply absurd to say that because people who can’t find a place to park at the store built with little parking might spill over onto the street, therefore we have to require the store to provide parking.

The only situation where I have any sympathy at all is the one where a neighbourhood has long had sufficient parking for guests to park near residents’ houses, and now a new development moves in and starts using the free on-street spaces. But even there, what is happening is that something provided for free by the City now has higher demand, such that the market clearing price is no longer free (at least at some time periods). To at least some extent, residents should be thankful they had free parking for a period of time rather than resentful that the gift is coming to an end.