Planner’s Notes

Welcome to Parkhurst. 

The Valley News reported the following in Sunday’s paper “Dartmouth Puts Pressure on Parkers” August 23, 1984:

“Hanover - A steep increase in parking fees at Dartmouth College has upset some employees.  the parking fee increase announced in a memo earlier this month, will more than double the cost of parking for service empoyees from $30 to $72 a year.  Faculty and higher level administrators will pay $120, up from $84.”

Dartmouth has not raised parking fees since 1984.  If rates had been annually adjusted for inflation, faculty and administrators would be paying about $250 a year in 2009 instead of $120.  Town of Hanover employees pay $540 a year for parking adjacent to their downtown office or park for free at Thompson Arena.  Those downtown employees looking for covered parking at the town’s parking garage may pay $1,440 annually.  Parking isn’t so cheap anymore.

Bensen Bubblers are sprinkled all about downtown Portland.  Young, old and even dogs use them to quench their thirst.  Water flows freely from 6 am to 11 pm daily all year round.  The Bull Run watershed has been the city’s water source since 1895.  Almost 53% of the watershed is classified as ‘old growth’ and has never been logged.   Rain, not snowmelt, provides 90-95% of the water in the watershed, averaging 130 inches a year.  It’s 1 of only 2 untreated metropolitan water supplies in the country.  The water tastes great!

Portland, Oregon did just that…the City removed 2 parallel on-street parking spaces and replaced them with racks that serve about 20 bikes. 

Nearly 1/3 of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the US come from transportaton sector, making it the nation’s largest end-use source of emissions .  Transportation GHG emissions are a result of 3 drivers - vehicle fuel efficiency, fuel emissions & how much people drive, as measured in vehicle miles traveled (VMT).  In June, the Center for Clean Air Policy published their analyses of reducing GHG emissions through smart growth, transportation choices and transportation pricing.  They estimate that comprehensive application of best practices could reduce VMT per capita by 10% in a dozen years.  Click here for the full report.