You cannot reduce auto trips by expanding auto capacity.
Did not happen:
“Reduce within-town car trips by 10% by 2020.”
– City of Santa Cruz Climate Action Plan (2012)
Threefold climate impacts of building a garage
- Construction with concrete results in large emissions of carbon dioxide. If the cement industry were a country, it would be the third largest emitter in the world after China and the USA. Garage construction is estimated to require 1,246 truckloads of concrete.
- The need to pay a 30 year debt on the garage means the City will need more people to drive Downtown and park. The City program of METRO bus passes available to all workers Downtown could be cut back or eliminated. (The universal bus pass program was approved by a narrow 4-3 majority of the Council in 2019, with the Council members who support a garage voting no.)
- Spending City revenue on a garage instead of affordable housing for the Downtown workforce misses the opportunity to for those workers to be able to walk to work.
Watch the Sierra Club interview with Adam Millard-Ball:
A Downtown Parking Garage in an Era of Climate Emergency?
Adam Millard Ball is an economist, and urban studies professor at UCLA. His research on parking includes a study showing how access to parking encouraged vehicle ownership and driving.
