In a Nov. 29 commentary, a former Alaska DOT employee bemoaned that the Assembly’s recent action to eliminate parking minimums is “forcing people who have a love affair with … their own car … to give up that freedom to be a bus rider.”
The letter writer misunderstood who is forcing whom. For decades, Anchorage has required by law that private businesses and homeowners give up birch trees, bedrooms and beer gardens to instead pave government-mandated parking lots.
Want to add a taphouse to a strip mall? Fine, but not too many tables, or you’ll have to tear down half the brewery to make room for more parking stalls! Want to take out a driveway to build a vacation rental? Sorry, the city says you’re better off with four parking spots instead of the extra income! Want to add a neighborhood cafe? Not unless you can convince patrons to pay $9 for a coffee to bankroll $200,000 worth of asphalt!
In cahoots with the city, DOT has paved over the Last Frontier by the acre, spending billions of our tax dollars to devour valuable land in the municipality at the same time we stare down a historic housing shortage. The new bridges at Portage? $100 million. The Dowling roundabouts? $44 million. Adding a lane between Anchorage and Girdwood? $600 million. A thriving downtown to attract new residents? Nope, but we do have six lanes of 45 mph traffic surrounding Town Square Park.
Our dear writer complains that “we can barely keep our roads plowed.” His solution? More roads! He complains that “bike paths and sidewalks are useless in Anchorage winters.” His solution? Definitely don’t plow them, just build more roads! He complains that “Anchorage already has one of the highest rates of per capita pedestrian deaths in the nation.” His solution? You guessed it, more roads.
We all know the old joke about Anchorage that “you can drive to Alaska from there.” Parking minimums and DOT’s unwavering thirst for bigger, faster, wider roads through Anchorage has ensured that, yes, you definitely can drive to Alaska from here — but also that there is less and less to stay for. The Assembly’s bold and unanimous action to eliminate parking minimums is a baby step toward reversing decades of destruction from outdated building code and DOT ambivalence. It will allow us, with lots of hard work, to build an Anchorage that is worth staying for, not just driving through at the highest possible rate of speed.
— Jamin Agosti
Anchorage
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