Tom Anderson wrote:
On Fri, 4 Apr 2008, Brimstone wrote:

Dogpoop wrote:
Brimstone typed:
John Rowland wrote:
Nowadays I read Kafka as a utopian vision of how saner government
might work.

My aunt lives 600 metres from a tube station, and IME the street
has always been fully parked on both sides. The street has
recently been made residents parking only. There is now at most
one car parked in the whole street! It turns out that in a street
of 40 houses, only one person actually owns a car, so both sides
of an entire street have been reserved for a single car!

AIUI the intention of making roads "residents only" is to stop
commuters blocking the road for those needing access to the houses
along that road.

Heh, how about a new parking scheme, whereby non-residents can park,
say for a fiver a day, but the money goes to the 'street residents'
to keep the area tidy and well-maintained. Might work. :-) But
I'll not hold my breath.

A good idea but I can see that 'street residents' would be
translated to "local council". :-(

Although if the residents all apply for parking permits, and then
privately flog them to commuters, the council could be bypassed. This
is illegal, but hey, it might work anyway!

It would be the free market in action wouldn't it. But as you say, it's
government so illegal.

It's rather different where my parents live. It's about 500 metres from
the station entrance and there are about two cars per house on a street
with virtually no off-street parking. Before residents' parking was
introduced, parking was alost impossible, due to commuters;now it's just
difficult... (an improvement - just)

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

It's rather different where my parents live. It's about 500 metres from
the station entrance and there are about two cars per house on a street
with virtually no off-street parking. Before residents' parking was
introduced, parking was alost impossible, due to commuters;now it's just
difficult... (an improvement - just)

These things are always difficult to discuss, because of this mistaken
view that some people seem to have that the road near their home is for
their exclusive use.

If the street is going to be restricted so that only residents and their
visitors can beneficially use them, then the carriageway there should be
completely removed from the network of public highways and ought to be
maintained/drained/lit/policed entirely at the expense of the residents
(just like any other private land has to be). That's only fair.

OTOH, if the parking restrictions (or a part of them) are there to
prevent congestion and to ensure access (eg, corner-protection and
enforced access for dire-engines, etc), that's another matter. But that
(highly practical) consideration rarely requires a complete ban on
parking, and never requires a ban on the parking of Tweedledum's car
whilst allowing the parking of Tweedledee's vehicle.

JNugent wrote:

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

It's rather different where my parents live. It's about 500 metres from
the station entrance and there are about two cars per house on a street
with virtually no off-street parking. Before residents' parking was
introduced, parking was alost impossible, due to commuters;now it's just
difficult... (an improvement - just)

These things are always difficult to discuss, because of this mistaken
view that some people seem to have that the road near their home is for
their exclusive use.

If the street is going to be restricted so that only residents and their
visitors can beneficially use them, then the carriageway there should be
completely removed from the network of public highways and ought to be
maintained/drained/lit/policed entirely at the expense of the residents
(just like any other private land has to be). That's only fair.

groan...

Read: "it", rather than "them" in the second line.

OTOH, if the parking restrictions (or a part of them) are there to
prevent congestion and to ensure access (eg, corner-protection and
enforced access for dire-engines, etc), that's another matter. But that
(highly practical) consideration rarely requires a complete ban on
parking, and never requires a ban on the parking of Tweedledum's car
whilst allowing the parking of Tweedledee's vehicle.

double-groan...

fire-engines