Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time

by Jeff Speck

Shoup reports on how, by 1990, Aspen’s downtown merchants were suffering from overcrowded curbside parking. The city responded by building an expensive parking garage, but that structure sat half empty as the parking crush continued. Finally, the city proposed charging one dollar per hour on-street, and all hell broke loose.45 Opponents, mostly local employees, mounted a noisy “Honk if You Hate Paid Parking” campaign. This was quickly met by a rogue “Honk if You Love Dirty Air” campaign, in reference to all the cruising and double parking that had become the norm. Paid parking eventually prevailed and the new rates took effect in 1995. Almost immediately, the opponents realized that they had been wrong. Now the municipal parking structure is well used, the on-street parking and cruising are under control, the businesses are thriving, and the city receives over half a million dollars a year in new parking revenue, most of it from tourists.46