With thanks to readers and commenters. Some issues regarding the Keene parking post yesterday….

1.  I don’t think that there is any serious question about the existence, persistence, and aggressiveness of the harassment of parking enforcement workers.  The City of Keene has documented it for years, and there are plenty of other news stories, over the course of years.  This is NOT just something reported by the NYTimes.  There is plenty of information out there, already.  If there is a “teachable moment,” it’s that the blanket dismissal of information as an ideological filter is silly.

2.  My question is not whether the protesters have the right to protest (I would say they do have that right).  The question is whether the protesters are mistaken in protesting something that is of no consequence.  I think the answer may be “yes.”  But of course the protesters can protest.  The court based that on the 1st Amendment, though, not on the merits of the economics of the protesters’ claims that parking should be free.  And the objection about the size of the fine?  That’s a small fine, not a large one.  If you want to park, you are keeping someone else from parking.  If you refuse to pay for that, you are stealing.  Again, if the objection is that the city should sell the parking spaces and have them operated privately, that’s fair enough.  But then the private owner would certainly impose fines, or have the violator towed.  Parking is not free, ever, because it has an opportunity cost:  someone else would like to use that space.

3.  Yes, of course, the objection (made often over at Market Urbanism) is correct:  the requirement of including parking spaces in a new development is dumb.  And yes we subsidize cars in a thousand ways.  But that cuts FOR my argument, not against it.  If you are anti-car, you should favor high parking fees and strict enforcement of violations.  If Keene faile to enforce parking, that would be yet another subsidy.

4.   On a lighter note, one reader suggested that perhaps this sort of costume would improve public relations for the meter workers.  Though it might not practical in NH (Yes, I know, “This is why we can’t have nice things…”)

5.  What do you think of this?  It makes sense, in a way.  But it also means that people would hold onto a space until they could sell it, rather than leaving when they had finished their activity in the area.  I can see arguments both ways, I suppose.  But it seems problematic…

Nonetheless, again, let me close with the (very plausible) profession of my own ignorance.  It may be that the aggressiveness of the parking enforcement was unusual, or that there were other reasons that started these protests.  And so long as the protests do not involve threats of violence, they are not illegal.  My question is, are the protests justifiable from either an economic or ethical perspective?  Why “should” parking be free?