Like Matt, I'm all for bribing current stakeholders to encourage better policies for future ones. Outside of but near the business district of Philadelphia, most neighborhoods have permit parking. Some spots are 2 hour parking meter spots and some, like ones on my block, are two hour free parking spots. But residents can get permits which allow them to park any time, and also temporary permits for visitors. These permits are absurdly cheap. They're $35 for the first year, and it's only $20/year after that. There are no limits on the number of permits a household can have, as long as the cars are registered to that address.
Discussions of all such issues are complicated by the fact that all such money goes to the parking authority, where the money seems to just disappear, but in fantasy world we should grandfather in all permits at current prices, keep the price on the first household permit fairly low, and then really jack up the rates on any additional household permits.
I don't drive much, so I don't personally give a crap about the availability of on street parking. But what I do care about are fears about lack of availability of on street parking leading to neighborhood groups demanding that all development projects come with their own massive parking lots. That's bad!
