Evening star., 1924-08-07
The Root of the Parking Evil.

So quickly was the suggestion of
the transformation of Franklin Square
into a motor car parking space re-
pudiated and withdrawn that it may
almost be regarded as having never
been advanced. But the fact will re.
. main that it was actually broached
as one of the means of Solving" the
parking problem in this city, which
has become SO grave and difficult. Its
mere advancement is an indication
that the true solution of the problem
is not being actually sought, but that
palliatives are the objective of official
search. The plain fact is that too
many cars are now permitted to be
stored in the streets, day and night,
and the remedy for this condition is
to prohibit such storage, to leave the
streets open for moving traffic.
Most Of the cars that are brought
down town in the morning are for the
transportation to and from their work
of relatively small number of per
sons. Usually but d single person is
to be found in the machine. the
- driver. Occasionally car owner
gathers up his neighbors and some
times strangers met on the way, as
a matter of od-fellowship and ac-
commodation. In proportion, how
ever, the morning and afternoon use
of machines is utterly uneconomic.
considering the space that is required
for all-day storage.
= So long as street space is granted
free this habit will prevail and cars
will multiply and the problem will in
crease. The "congeSted area" COM
prising the blocks between 5 and K
and Seventh and Seventeenth streets,
will be encroached upon, to the con-
founding of the business interests
within that area. Time limit rules
will remain difficult to enforce, will
become indeed more difficult. No at
tempt will be made to provide proper
off-street storage spaces for the care
of machines that must be brought
down town for the proper transaction
of business. The true solution of the
problem will be simply postponed
growing more difficult with each sea-
son. --.-.s
So long as the streets can be used
for all-day parking, or for indefinite
parking under unenforced time-limit
rules, nothing will be done toward
providing suitable off-street parking
facilities. At present it is estimated
that such facilities. large storage
garages conducted as commercial en-
terprises, would not pay for lack of
patronage. But they are being built
In other cities-are, in fact, in use in
other cities as a means of solving
this problem. Washington is peculiar
only in allowing the use of the streets
and thus lessening the demand for
'off-street parking accommodations.
1t has been often said that time
limit rules cannot be enforced because
of lack of policemen sufficient to
cover the ground. Yet it may be
easily believed that with discretion
and careful planning this rule can, in
fact, be enforced through surprise
raids" upon square after square not
all rule breakers uncertain when they
may find their cars tagged and them
selves summoned to court to meet
stiff penalties.
Rather than look to such stupid ex.
pedients as the use of one of the
public parks for car storage space,
those responsible for traffic admins
tration should conduct a systematic
enforcement Of the rules that now
exist to make every car owner in
Washington realize that those rules
are meant to be enforced. And if
those rules are not adequate to clear
the streets, then others, more drastic,
should be adopted. The most dis
tlrbing thing about the Franklin
Square proposal is that it indicates
a disposition to yield to the problem
instead of seeking a solution at it's
root.