The 3 P’s of parking (P-2)

Continuing with the 3 P’s of marketing/parking (product, price, and promotion) as they relate to the Emmett Street parking lot (see The 3 P’s of parking [P-1] ):

Price

Price should be determined by supply and demand. 

Supply

Supply of public parking is largely fixed unless the city renegotiates the terms of its lease to LAZ Parking/Chicago Parking Meters, LLC.  Let’s put it this way, it is highly unlikely that the number of public parking spots will be reduced due to the high cost of compensating LAZ Parking/Chicago Parking Meters, LLC for the potential lost revenue.  And I don’t see the city feeling generous or desiring to further antagonize Chicago drivers by creating even more metered parking spaces.

From the premise of fixed supply of public parking, price then needs to be determined by demand. 

The 3 P’s of parking (P-1)

You’ve heard of the 4 P’s of marketing, right?  Product, price, promotion, and placement.  As regards existing parking, placement is a given.  But let’s look at the other 3 P’s of marketing/parking as they relate to the Emmett Street parking lot, which as previously noted (see Is there a parking problem?), is always at least half empty.

Product

You want a product that appeals to your customer. 

Thankfully, I periodically see workers cleaning up trash in the parking lot.  The pavement markings seem in pretty good shape, but the pavement could use repair in some places.  The fence around the lot also needs repair in a couple of spots, but these are not yet too troublesome.

Attendant station

But the presence of the abandoned attendant station in disrepair hadn’t even occurred to me until brought to my attention by someone who said this was one reason she did not use the parking lot.  I guesss having lived in the neighborhood long enough to remember when there was a

Parking and Milwaukee Avenue

How participants in the Milwaukee Avenue Corridor Development Initiative workshops responded to a question about parking also surprised organizers of the workshops (in a good way) (also see Height and Milwaukee Avenue [Part I]), and a few participants as well (in a not so good way).

How do you feel about parking on Milwaukee Avenue?

Eighty-one percent of workshop participants felt that there is sufficient or too much parking on Milwaukee Avenue, and only 19% felt that more parking is needed.

I think workshop participants got this answer right, and the response is consistent with the results of the polls I posted at Do we need more parking? (click on image below for better legibility).

Do we need more parking?

Before I delve into the topic of parking a bit more, I want to get a sense of what readers think:  Do we need more parking along Milwaukee Avenue?

For the purposes of this discussion, because I’m going to tie it into discussion of the Milwaukee Avenue Corridor Development Initiative workshops that recently took place, I’m broadening the portion of Milwaukee Avenue addressed and breaking it down into two sections.  Please vote in both polls and read the answers carefully as they appear in random order: