Americans: Don't Stop Me From Driving (Or Parking) My Car

Whether is a proposal for congestion pricing in 2007 or the advent of parking meters in the 1930s, Americans have a way of being hostile towards plans that interfere with their 'constitutional right' to free driving and parking.

1 minute read

July 31, 2007, 2:00 PM PDT

By Christian Madera @http://www.twitter.com/cpmadera

"By now we're all familiar with the litany of complaints about [New York] City's new traffic control plan: It's an unfair and burdensome new tax; it's going to kill retail business and hurt the little guy; and most of all, it's just plain "un-American."

That, of course, is what critics are saying about congestion pricing in New York City in 2007.

It turns out that the critics said the exact same things about new-fangled contraptions called Park-o-Meters when they were introduced in urban centers in the early 1930s. (Notably, The Automobile Club of New York was a vocal critic in both eras, their message almost completely unchanged over 75 years)."

FULL STORY: Parking Meters: The Congestion Pricing Controversy of 1932

Tuesday, July 31, 2007 in Streetsblog

Social / Demographics Transportation United States

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