Academy of Local Politics

Kingman, Arizona.

What do you think of when you hear those words?

The first thing I think of is...  Terry Nichols.

I think of a whole city of angry ...  anti government ...  zealots.

I must not be alone.

The Kingman Daily Miner reports...

Has your home recently been engulfed in flames, blown to pieces in a hurricane or crumbled by an earthquake? If so, Kingman wants you.

That is one of the messages a group of community leaders plan to send as part of the long-existing and recently revived Route 66 Association.

About 20 people met Tuesday evening in the old Elks building downtown to come up with ideas to attract new residents and new commercial development, end the squabbling in city government and do whatever they can to help revive the struggling local economy and to bring back Kingman's positive image.

The problems over land deals and government policies that have caused so much controversy the last few years admittedly can't be fixed overnight, but having all the major players in the room was a start, the organizer said.

All agreed that the political turmoil of the last several years and the continual back and forth between various factions in the community have tarnished Kingman's image. One city councilman recently cited a resident who called the twice-monthly public meetings "the best reality TV show (people) had ever seen."

(Kingman isn't alone there. I believe every city's Council meetings are great reality shows.)

Led by business owner and reformed government critic Scott Dunton, the local leaders - including city officials and their watchdogs, developers and their critics - discussed ways to "accentuate the positives and de-emphasize the negatives," as Kingman developer and Scottsdale resident Richard Campana put it.

The residents of Kingman have their work cut out for themselves. I wish them good luck.

Where do they start?

As for immediate action, Dunton and the growing Route 66 Association plan to throw a party and possibly a street dance downtown.

Get drunk and party.

Good Start!

I have learned over the months that the readership of this blog is very diverse. Elected officials and various levels of citizen activists check in to see what topics are being covered.

One faithful reader is David Barber the Director of the Cordillera Institute in Agincourt, Ontario. The Cordillera Institute is an independent research and public policy organization dedicated to excellence in local government. Its activities include research, publications, training and information management in areas affecting local government.

Over the past few months Mr. Barber and myself have exchanged numerous emails about the differences in local government of Ontario and Wisconsin.

One of my recent emails from Mr. Barber he stated the following...

Here at the Institute, our objective is to advance the cause of excellence in local government.  But, since our local governments are the 'creatures' of our respective states or provinces, achieving excellence in local government is very much influenced by the rules which have been set by those senior governments.

In our discussions about local government in Wisconsin, I was pleased to discover the relative autonomy enjoyed by your municipalities.  The area which took most of our attention was land-use planning (and zoning).  But, we also touched on the subject of municipal structure -- the creation of municipalities and municipal mergers.  For municipal officials who live under much more senior-government control, Wisconsin is another example of what could be done.  Having such examples inspires one to take action -- with the knowledge that someone else has done it already.

I expect that your state's handling of 1 or both of those topics -- land-use planning or municipal structure -- would be of great interest to our readers.

Mr. Barber is attempting to find someone who is willing to prepare a report for his readers on Wisconsin land use planning and/or municipal structure.

Quite frankly, I am a politician, not a policy wonk. Writing such a report just isn't in my make-up.

If any of my readers would be interested in helping Mr. Barber by researching and writing such reports, please contact me HERE.

I will then put you in touch with Mr. Barber.

FREE PARKING. The battle cry of businesses everywhere.

Parking. A headache for local government everywhere. Because nothing is FREE.

I found some fascinating information about parking written by Tim Falconer in TheStar.Com.

I'd heard various estimates (four, eight, 13) for the number of parking spots per car in North America, and I have to admit that, initially, I was shocked. After all, like most people, when I'm driving around hunting for a legal space – all the while burning fossil fuels, spewing emissions and adding to the traffic congestion – it never occurs to me that North American cities devote so much space to parking.

But the typical driver has a parking spot at home and one at work (usually bigger than the cubicle he or she spends all day in) as well as shared spots at malls, stores, restaurants and even churches.

We're so accustomed to abundant free parking that we resist paying for it, hate looking for it and, most of all, dread getting tickets. As Donald Shoup, America's parking guru, told me, "Everybody thinks parking is a personal problem, not a policy problem." But everybody is wrong.

Born in California in 1938, Shoup was living in Honolulu when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. Now a professor at UCLA's urban planning department and the author of The High Cost of Free Parking, he has a growing band of followers who call themselves Shoupistas even though the market-oriented policies he advocates could best be summed up by the battle cry, "Charge whatever the traffic will bear."

Gouge for parking? Why not, we're being gouged to drive, right?

Turning to his computer, he showed me aerial photos of several cities to demonstrate how much land we waste just to give drivers a place to leave their wheels. "Parking is the single-biggest land use in almost any city and almost everybody has ignored it," he told me. "It's like dark matter in the universe: We know there's something there, and it seems to weigh a lot, but we don't know what it is. If only we could get our hands on it."

While he was at his computer, he also gave me a virtual tour of the Old Town Pasadena neighbourhood, with before and after photos that showed how it had gone from skid row to upscale destination.

ONE OF HIS IDEAS was instrumental in that transformation. The city faced a common problem: Parking was free, but the few merchants who were still in business complained that it was inadequate. The people who worked in the stores took most of the spots, leaving customers to drive around searching for one – or just staying away. Meanwhile, the city had a vision of a revitalized downtown but no money to repair sidewalks, plant trees, increase security or take any of the other steps necessary to attract people.

Shoup recommended charging enough for parking to maintain an 85 per cent occupancy rate and using the money shoppers dropped in the meters to improve the neighbourhood. The revenue couldn't go into the city's general coffers; it had to be spent on the streets.

Once that happened, the business community started to invest, too – even sandblasting and renovating derelict buildings – and soon the shop owners, who had initially opposed meters, wanted to charge for parking until midnight. They wanted the money for the improvements, but they also discovered that their fears about scaring away customers were unfounded – anyone who really wanted to shop or eat in the area was willing to invest a few quarters.

As the area became more popular, the meters raised more money for more improvements, which increased the popularity. And so on. The city now collects one million dollars a year to pay for upkeep that includes sweeping the sidewalks nightly and steam-cleaning them twice a month.

Money to steam clean the sidewalks twice a month? That got my attention.

How much should be charged to park on the street?

The right price is the one that means there are always one or two open spots per block. Since the cost encourages turnover, time limits are unnecessary; in fact, any place that needs to impose time limits is not charging enough.

A city should adjust the rate every quarter to ensure the 15 per cent vacancy rate, always letting the market decide the price. "Nobody can tell you what the right price of gold is, or the right price of wheat or apples," he argued. "It just happens."

Parking meters. Kind of like Back to the Future, isn't it.

Another thought by Mr. Shoup...

The harm abundant free parking does feeds on itself: All that land dedicated to parking, which often sits empty for much of the day, increases sprawl, and that sprawl makes alternatives such as public transit and walking less feasible, which forces more people into cars, which increases the need for more parking.

Are these ideas catching on?

Cities pay him large lecture fees, fly him first class and then wine him and dine him, but they don't all do what he suggests because parking is so political.

"The nice thing is that when cities adopt what I'm saying" – he snapped his fingers – "like that, it works."

Fascinating... I wonder if these ideas really work?

 

I have written before about the problems of locating cell phone towers. The NIMBY turnout is very predictable whenever a new tower is planned. Yet, many people want good service and the ability to make and receive a call from anywhere.

The City of Laguna Beach, CA is taking on the problem. According to the CoastlinePilot, Laguna Beach has identified 10 city owned parcels where "disguised" cell towers may be located.

The City Council directed City Manager Ken Frank in July 2006 to work with ATS Communications to devise detailed plans to locate the facilities for wireless service providers on 10 city parcels, hoping to reduce or forestall the proliferation of antennas and other equipment, improve cellphone service for residents — and make a profit from leases.

The designs could include fake trees and faux rock piles or benches to disguise equipment... Other stealth options include a replacement flag pole and a fake chimney at one site, a rooftop cupola on another. Light standards are also handy.

GASP, make a profit from leases? How much?

Leasing city property for the installations will put about $2,000 a month from each leased location into the city coffers, always welcome news.

Let's see, $2,000/month from each leased location? With each of the 10 parcels having the ability to have more than one lease?

Government ... Making money off of fake trees ... in California?

I would love to be at this meeting. It would be a real hoot.

Good Luck Mr. Frank, you will need it.