State pays $$ to erase parking spaces

By Taxpayer Association of Oregon Foundation

In an effort to boost Oregonians’ switch to electric vehicles the Oregon Department of Transportation is granting $1.75 million in rebates to priority businesses, nonprofits, and governments to install EV charging stations.  This is just part of $100 million dedicated to building Electric Vehicle stations using tax dollars. The focus will be on installations in public parking areas and multi-family housing.   It is exactly at these new multi-family places that the City of Portland is trying to block construction/availability of street-side parking.  There is even a statewide rule pressuring cities to reduce parking spaces.  Oregon is also pushing to eliminate parking space minimums which would eliminate more spaces.

As parking spaces are slowly receding, the State is also paying to convert those remaining parking spaces and turn them into electric vehicle charging stations, which means fewer places to park.  It also means that the space will be under-utilized because only charging vehicles will be able to use it.

For small businesses, eliminating parking spaces only adds barriers to operating in Oregon and further makes it harder to compete with giant online retailers.