San Francisco stops startups selling public parking spaces

http://pando.com/2014/06/23/disruptors-to-arms-san-francisco-stops-startups-selling-public-parking-spaces/

by nbarry • 12 years ago

3 2 12 years ago

nbarry• 12 years ago

Crowdsourcing can be used nefariously, too. The specific opportunity of squatting on public parking spaces, then "selling" them to higher bidders, exists because parking is sometimes priced below market rate. And even if it's priced at market rate, the market rate will be artificially boosted if squatters suddenly take up all the spots.

But opportunities like this exist all over the place. Crowdsourcing and coordination are great when they lead to new opportunities, but it kind of sucks that companies like this are out there coordinating for the sake of monopolizing some existing resource.

hawkice• 12 years ago

This has the potential to actually start people asking whether "free market solutions" make any sense in issues of public good. There are reasonable points to be made on this specific public parking issue (few of them shared with e.g. discussions of public healthcare, which is a philosophically related debate with completely different details). I hope the standard becomes "What works?", but perhaps that makes me naive.

That all being said, the only way San Francisco (or any other city) can possibly manage these problems is through a combination of taller buildings used as housing and excellent public transportation.

San Francisco stops startups selling public parking spaces

Related Stories