Ask The Green Miles: More Parking Fees in Arlington

A friend writes:

You're more politically plugged in than I am, do you support this? Arlington County Board is thinking about extending hours [with payment required] on parking meters and possibly garages. "The proposed Parking and Curb Space Management Element is scheduled to be reviewed by the Transportation Commission and the Planning Commission at their meetings on October 29, and November 2, 2009, respectively, prior to the County Board hearing on November 14, 2009."

Do I support charging a small amount for parking on nights and weekends? Sure. No reason a community should charge for something during the day, then give it away at night. I'd be more concerned with making sure that all meters take credit cards or allow you to pay by cell phone. I don't want to get a $30 ticket because I couldn't find any quarters at 3am.

My bigger question is this -- has anything that's less of a big deal generated more controversy than Arlington's various proposals to charge a buck or two for parking here and there? I mean, look at this breathless editorial from the Sun Gazette's Scott McCaffrey:

[F]orcing those in Clarendon or other commercial areas to pay for meters well into the evening, or on Sundays, is counterproductive and will place those areas at a severe competitive disadvantage. In the long run, it will reduce the county government’s revenue, not increase it.

There is only one problem with that argument: Logic. As I once asked at What's Up Arlington, would any husband really turn to his wife and say, "Honey, I was going to take you to Restaurant 3 for our anniversary tonight, but it's $2 for parking now, so we're having Hungry Man TV dinners instead. Hope you like salisbury steak"?

Say it costs $2 to park in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor for the evening. Does a free alternative really exist? Pay $2 in gas to drive to Alexandria? Pay $4 in gas to drive out to Fairfax? Drive into DC and pay $8 for parking or spend 30 minutes driving around hoping to find a free spot?

Let's face it -- this debate is less about economics than it is about psychology. People hate being asked to pay for something they used to get for free.

Conservatives Still Denying Global Warming. Up Next: Dinosaurs Not Really Extinct.

From a recent editorial in the Arlington Sun-Gazette:

THUMBS DOWN: To the Arlington Committee of 100, which seems to be moving away from trying to present balanced programs, in favor
of trendy activism.

This week, the venerable community organization was slated to present a program on global warming. Of the three speakers that were publicized to be at the meeting, all appear to be on the same side of the issue.

Which side? If you guess it's the side that says humans - no doubt Americans in particular, and probably Republicans most egregiously - are causing most of the world's environmental problems, give yourself a gold star.

The issue of global warming is far more nuanced and complicated than TV sound-bites would make it appear. Surely there was someone who could have been recruited to provide some balance to what, from outside looking in, appears to be a one-sided discussion.

Let's break it down:

1. The event was not about debating whether global warming is or is not happening. That debate is over. The science is unequivocal -- our planet is warming, man-made greenhouse gases are to blame, and we must cut carbon emissions now to slow (never mind stop) its effects.
   
   
2. The most accurate part of this editorial is actually the part that's meant to be sarcastic. It IS Americans who are most responsible for global warming. The United States, with just 5% of the world's population, puts out 25% of civilization's carbon emissions. That's not politics, that's science, but apparently the Sun-Gazette can't distinguish between the two. I hope that means they at least got good grades in civics in school, not bad grades in both civics and science.
   
   
3. The Arlington Committee of 100 is the cutting edge of "trendy activism"? Their website looks like it hasn't been updated since 'N Sync was topping the pop charts.
   
   
4. No matter what the issue -- global warming, secondhand smoke, evolution -- conservatives love to claim the science isn't settled, that the debate is ongoing, and that if anyone thinks otherwise, they've been paying too much attention to that liberal media. Global warming is happening, secondhand smoke kills, and evolution is why we have these kick-ass opposable thumbs.

Based on the science that says global warming is happening and we're to blame, what do we want to do about it? Do we want to take action to slow and eventually stop it? Or will we take our chances?

Those are the questions we need to be asking, and that's exactly what the Arlington Committee of 100 forum was about. If conservatives want to be a part of that debate, they need to adapt or go the way of the dinosaurs.