Valet parking in Bishop Arts.
Sept. 15 will be the city’s first holiday dedicated to parking — yes, parking — thanks to a five-signature memorandum submitted to and approved by the Dallas City Council during their Wednesday briefing.
PARK(ing) Day is celebrated globally on the third Friday of September, and aims to promote community engagement by transforming parking areas into parks, vendor booths and other art/entertainment related activities.
The memorandum, submitted by District 1 city council member Chad West (and signed by the representatives for districts 7, 13, 5 and 11) asks City Manager TC Broadnax to reduce parking in the city, provide updates on the status of the parking reduction and eliminate minimum parking requirements.
According to the approved memorandum, the reduction to parking requirements will result in space that can be repurposed to serve “better uses for the community.” The council is asking for no delay, with a progress report from Broadnax expected later this month.
Parking requirements have long been an issue in Oak Cliff.
In February, D Magazine‘s wrote about Graph Coffee in Elmwood, whose opening was delayed for months due to untenable city parking minimums. The cozy spot is now open, but it’s the kind of red tape small businesses have been combatting that West hopes to eliminate by lowering city requirements for parking.
West has been a proponent for parking reform for a while (In case you’ve missed them, he has been taking his constituents along on his summer travels through his parking-related Twitter videos) and his efforts have culminated with the PARK(ing) Day memo.
