The City of Boulder is proposing a parking permit in our neighborhood charging residents $40 per year to park one car in front of their own houses! Apparently, they received a few complaints from neighborhood residents about student parking.

We have lived in our house for 40 years and never have been subject to such government overreach! Sure, the taxes have gone up precipitously over the years. This year, due to property valuations, they may jump another 30%. Sure they have added fees over the years that we had never had to pay before, like rental licenses, environmental certification and various permits, but one could argue they are driven by needs. Paying to park at your own property is not one of them.

What happens to the approximately $100 a year that we will have to pay to park at our house for two cars and guest passes? Does it go for a parking solution? No. Does it pay for parking enforcement? No, we already pay for that in our taxes. Does it pay for increased staff that would not be necessary if we didn’t have the permit system? Probably.

What does it pay for?

The parking problem in our neighborhood is, in my opinion, a direct result of actions on the part of the University of Colorado. The parking fees for students is much too high, and the students seek cheaper arrangements by parking off campus. The university built new dorms, like Williams Village North, and provided inadequate student parking, forcing the students to park in adjacent streets.

The parking problem is exacerbated by inconsistent parking enforcement. We frequently see student cars overhanging driveways, parked around corners, parked next to stop signs, jammed together three in a space for two, even parking in the driveways of unoccupied houses. To their credit, Parking Services will ticket these cars, but only if the offense is called in.

The proposed system is non-functional in its design. It allows for three hours of parking without a permit. That means if an owner needs to move his or her car any time between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., the spot will immediately be taken and the displaced resident will have to find another spot, perhaps many blocks away. So then the $40 permit will be worthless.

We have made many suggestions over the years, all ignored. Of course, the most obvious one is to have the university correct the problem by providing adequate, affordable parking. Another is to provide more capacity in the neighborhood by allowing diagonal parking on the frontage road. Parking could also be allowed on Baseline Road itself, causing the road to appear narrower and perhaps slowing the people who now drive well over the speed limit on what appears to be a wide highway. The university could easily open commuter parking on East Campus.

We did not ask for a permitting system. The city government is imposing its solution and clearly overreaching its purpose. They are imposing a solution on us we didn’t vote for and don’t want.

George Craft lives in Boulder.