I saw an interesting subtext in the discussion last Wednesday night when the Arcata City Council failed to reach agreement on the H Street sidewalk widening project between Ninth and 11th streets. The council faced the choice of providing more space to widen the sidewalks by either eliminating the bike lane or limiting parking to the east side of H Street. There was a lot of discussion of different options for accommodating bicycles if the bike lane was eliminated, but little discussion of how to more creatively accommodate parking.

Staff bent over backwards to promote the option where the segregated bike lane is removed and pavement treatments called “sharrows” – share the road arrows that you may have noticed stenciled on 11th Street, K Street and Union Street – are applied to indicate that bicyclists share the right lane with cars and trucks.

While the proposal had shortcomings that would prevent too many families with young children, the inexperienced and the elderly from accessing the Plaza by bicycle, the shared-lane design was a valiant and creative effort on the part of public works staff.

However, staff proposed no creative options to accommodate parking in a more space-efficient and effective manner. If you listened to Public Works and planning staff that night, you would think that the only thing we could do to facilitate better parking availability is to maintain or increase the parking supply. Staff neglected to explore or discuss the demand side of the parking equation.

We can meet parking needs without holding ourselves hostage. We don’t need to make every decision about street design based on parking supply. A suite of tools to manage parking demand could just as effectively make more parking available.

One tool is to manage parking demand on downtown streets with parking meters instead of the current two and four-hour time limits. When parking is regulated by price instead of time limits, you can park in a prime spot as long as you want, but you have the incentive to do your shopping quickly and leave, opening up the parking space for the next shopper. This mixture of flexibility and incentives offered by pricing would apply some free-market efficiency to our parking issues.

If there is still not enough available parking, raise the price. If there are too many open spots, lower it, just like you would if you were selling any other commodity. The right price means it’s easy to park, the parking is well-used, and turnover is rapid so each parking space generates more shopping at our local businesses. Some modern meters even allow you to pay by credit card, and recoup your overpayment if you park for less time than expected.

Revenue from parking meters can fund a parking benefit district that supports projects in the same neighborhood where the meters are located, such as street trees, additional security or public bathrooms.

There are other tools that enhance mobility and open up parking. Many cities provide designated parking spaces for “ZipCar” or other short-term rental car services, so residents or employees in an area who don’t have a car can grab one for an errand. This is a great way to use less parking while giving more people access to occasional car use.

And obviously, improving transit, biking and pedestrian options can open up parking because it makes it easier for people to go where they need to go without taking up a parking space.

We don’t manufacture cars in Arcata, and we import all of our transportation fuel. So fewer cars and less driving means more money recirculating in our economy and supporting local business.

In short, enhancing our business climate goes hand-in-hand with making our downtown healthier, more beautiful and more sustainable.

We have the potential to develop our city into a prosperous one where everyone has healthy transportation choices regardless of who they are or where they want to go. However, we won’t reach that potential if we cling to an obsolete and false dichotomy between supporting business and supporting our quality of life.

I hope that City staff, Mayor Wheetley and Councilmember Ornelas are able to see past false choices, take a wider view, and soften their rigid stance toward parking supply. Let’s pursue a smarter approach to our parking management, widen the sidewalks to support our businesses and enhance the downtown pedestrian experience.

I thank Councilmembers Brinton and Winkler for supporting a sensible compromise for sidewalk widening, and thank all the councilmembers and city staff for their service to the city. Let’s all work together for a healthy, sustainable and prosperous future.

Chris Rall is executive director of Green Wheels (green-wheels.org), serves on the Arcata Transportation Safety Committee, and claims to have the two most beautiful children that humankind has ever witnessed.