Banning Semi Trucks Is The Solution To The Parking Shortage

North Bend may ban semi-truck parking on city streets

The Times reports that North Bend is considering banning street parking in town because of how loud the trucks are, how they contribute to traffic, the exhaust they send into the air and the wear and tear on city roads.

The city also wants to prevent any new truck stops from being built or the expansion of existing ones.

I actually have no problem with towns and cities wanting to limit the traffic, noise, and pollution from trucks. Trucks are rather big, loud, and smelly! Nobody wants one idling 40 feet from their kid's bedroom window all night long. And that happens more than you might think.

95% of the land mass in the United States is completely undeveloped. There's no reason we should all have to fight for the same handful of parking places. Heck, we can even live without pavement or facilities or anything for that matter. Just give us a gigantic gravel parking lot in the middle of nowhere to park safely and be left alone and we're thrilled! I mean, how hard should that be, ya know?

Heck, even if we have to pay a few bucks. Fine. I'm sure the industry can adjust their pricing models slightly to compensate for a few bucks worth of parking fees the same way they do when fuel prices go up a little. No big deal. Whatever. It's not rocket science to figure out. The problem is 97% of the general public doesn't care how we feel as long as we're not in their way anymore than is necessary so the politicians don't pay any attention either.

Ya know, instead of having a strike, truckers should all start parking in neighborhoods and idling their engines all night. If enough trucks did that it would become news in a few days. Then you make the plea to the general public - we won't park in your towns and cities if you'll just dump about 5 acres worth of stone out in a field somewhere outside of town so we can park without sinking in the mud. Oh, and while you're at it, hire one or two security guards for 24 hour security and you can charge 50 cents per hour for each truck to park. That will pay you back for the stone, pay for the security guards, and it's all profit for the town after that.

Simple as that.

I actually have no problem with towns and cities wanting to limit the traffic, noise, and pollution from trucks. Trucks are rather big, loud, and smelly! Nobody wants one idling 40 feet from their kid's bedroom window all night long. And that happens more than you might think.

95% of the land mass in the United States is completely undeveloped. There's no reason we should all have to fight for the same handful of parking places. Heck, we can even live without pavement or facilities or anything for that matter. Just give us a gigantic gravel parking lot in the middle of nowhere to park safely and be left alone and we're thrilled! I mean, how hard should that be, ya know?

Heck, even if we have to pay a few bucks. Fine. I'm sure the industry can adjust their pricing models slightly to compensate for a few bucks worth of parking fees the same way they do when fuel prices go up a little. No big deal. Whatever. It's not rocket science to figure out. The problem is 97% of the general public doesn't care how we feel as long as we're not in their way anymore than is necessary so the politicians don't pay any attention either.

Ya know, instead of having a strike, truckers should all start parking in neighborhoods and idling their engines all night. If enough trucks did that it would become news in a few days. Then you make the plea to the general public - we won't park in your towns and cities if you'll just dump about 5 acres worth of stone out in a field somewhere outside of town so we can park without sinking in the mud. Oh, and while you're at it, hire one or two security guards for 24 hour security and you can charge 50 cents per hour for each truck to park. That will pay you back for the stone, pay for the security guards, and it's all profit for the town after that.

Simple as that.

I like the way you think. I personally think that places that ban trucks from parking just shouldn't get anything that comes on a truck but that's just me. I don't think your idea would work in the places where parking is really bad tho. Like around Philly or Chicago for example. It would solve the problem most everywhere else though

Like around Philly or Chicago for example

The parking doesn't have to be in or near the city. If you go 20 miles outside of any metropolitan area you'll find vacant land all over the place. Five or Ten acres can park a ton of trucks on a gravel lot with two security guards. I mean, that's a very tiny amount of resources to make it happen and everyone wins that way.

I would have loved to know where I could park safely just 20 miles outside of any major city at any time. That's a tough find in a lot of places, especially in the Northeast. But empty land is easy to find at that distance from pretty much any city.

Brett, Good point but you may have missed one very important sentence in the story "The city also wants to prevent any new truck stops from being built or the expansion of existing ones". So now what? There are a Gazillion Federal laws and regulations in this industry. Obviously a very snowy treacherous pass outside of town. I 90 is a Federal Interstate. So what happens? A new Federal Government run Truck Stop? It would be the only Billion Dollar 10 acre Truck Stop in the Country. Stories about ignorant narrow minded people and local politicians never cease to amaze me. Where do they think every item they eat, wear or use in their daily lives come from? Only one solution...........Starve em' into submission!

North Bend may ban semi-truck parking on city streets

The Times reports that North Bend is considering banning street parking in town because of how loud the trucks are, how they contribute to traffic, the exhaust they send into the air and the wear and tear on city roads.

The city also wants to prevent any new truck stops from being built or the expansion of existing ones.

North Bend, Wash., permanently bans future development of truck parking

"Councilmembers voted unanimously on Tuesday, April 19, to make permanent the controversial ordinance banning new truck parking spaces, including any expansions to the lone truck stop in town."

"Councilmembers voted unanimously on Tuesday, April 19, to make permanent the controversial ordinance banning new truck parking spaces, including any expansions to the lone truck stop in town."

That could be a headline in the newspaper in my city, Tucson Arizona. Our City Council is also comprised of MORONS!

So if we just stop going there, they will shrivel up and go away. Then they might see the importance of the need for truck parking.

So if we just stop going there, they will shrivel up and go away. Then they might see the importance of the need for truck parking.

I really wish truck companies would just refuse to go there til they changed the ordinance. It's never gonna happen, but it would work.

I love the trailer "bumper sticker", I've seen on some tractor trailers that says, "If you don't like trucks, stop buying stuff."

-mountain girl