Given the recent thefts from autos parked in town garages, it may be even less likely people will seek to park there...

Space available in this garage.

As the brains of Silicon Valley, you would think Palo Alto would have long ago implemented a simple floor-by-floor space available system in every Palo Alto parking garage. Displayed on each floor's tote board plus on a smart phone parking app, everyone could then see the parking space availability at every public parking garage and lot in Palo Alto. San Francisco and many other cities' garages have had floor-by-floor space available systems like this for years.

The data from a citywide parking space inventory system like this could be stored and analysed 6-ways-to-Sunday when big bucks are sought for the next parking garage.

And stopping new permits for building downtown is even a better idea. No lunchtime parking in Palo Alto and developers building everywhere. Is this a perfect example of city council greed and indifference.

The problem is that the spaces in the garages are hiding as far as people wanting to park know. There is no high tech or even low tech way of finding out how and where to park and where the space is for those "not in the know".

Some retired out of town friends of mine tried to have a late lunch and see a movie in downtown last week. They are able to walk so were not expecting to park outside where they were going, but they are not able to bike or walk a couple of miles each way to get there.

They tried to park about 1.00 pm in several garages and streets but found nowhere and since it became too late to do both they gave up. They now have a bad impression of downtown Palo Alto and are scared off of trying a second time.

This is the problem of attempting to park for more than 3 hours in downtown and nothing is being done to solve it.

$35M to build the needed garages. That would be how much the city gave away to developers.

Change the zoning requirements so that any new office space must build 200% of their estimated needed parking.

The lines when freebies are being handed out are long ... No wonder Palo Alto is such an attractive place to build an office building.

We are in this parking mess, thanks to the current city council. They have allowed, and are continuing to allow, developers to build ugly, oversized office buildings with little or no parking. The council is now addressing the parking problem, because they are fearful that they will not get re-elected next fall, due to their mismanagement of downtown parking. It is "too little, too late," for this city council. They are responsible for this parking problem. Why should Palo Altans be forced to pay for new downtown garages? Shrewd developers taking advantage of an incompetent city council are to blame.

---ufosightingsdaily.com has interesting thing in japan.