Best Buy's New Discrimination Policy

[74-StreetMachine]

  No, it's not about race, or weight, or sexual preference, it's about your car.  The Best Buy store in our city has three new designated parking spaces for " fuel efficient vehicles". These special spots near the front door are for vehicles that get 30 MPG or better. It's all about going green and  getting their LEED certification. This global warming crap has gone too far. The more your car pollutes the farther you have to park from the store?
   
    I was all set to buy a 40" flat screen TV. I saved money for almost a year and did hours of research to find the right one. The model I wanted finally came on sale and I was all set to go buy it but then our paper had a story about their new preferred parking spaces. I did some checking around and found Sears has the same model on sale for the same price. So I went across the street to Sears, parked where ever I wanted to, and gave them my hard earned $1000.
  Also, Sears saved me an extra $100 by signing up for a sears credit card, interest free for nine months.

   So, UP YOURS BEST BUY ! 

   In know, there are bigger things to worry about than a couple of parking spots, but what's next?

    The thing that really gets me is that Best Buy is doing all this stuff to go green and save energy yet when you go in their store they have over 40 TVs going for 11 hours a day. They can waist energy when it suits their purpose yet they designate special spaces for energy saving cars.  Hypocrites!

    Here is the store managers email address. Let him know how you feel. keith.sinnen@bestbuy.com 

   And here is the story that was in our paper.   

  MOUNT PLEASANT - The three new parking spaces outside of Best Buy, for "fuel-efficient" vehicles, are just one aspect of a new green initiative there.

And, no, the people at Best Buy aren't sure what qualifies as "fuel-efficient."

"I hate to say I don't really know what miles per gallon (standard) that is," store Manager Keith Sinnen said Tuesday.

"We don't tow people," he remarked. "It's on your honor."

"The reaction has been pretty mixed," Sinnen added.

He explained that the three parking spaces adjacent to the handicap parking stalls are part of Best Buy's application to be a LEED-certified building and business.

LEED is the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating system.

It's an internationally recognized third-party verification that a building was designed and built to maximize energy savings and water efficiency, reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and so on.

Parking for fuel-efficient vehicles brings Best Buy, now at 2710 S. Green Bay Road, one step closer to LEED designation. The company also provides one space for employee carpool parking, Sinnen noted.

LEED is most commonly sought in new construction, but Sinnen said the new Best Buy, 2710 S. Green Bay Road - home to Circuit City before it went bankrupt - is virtually all new.

"There's nothing pre-existing about this building other than the four outside walls," he said.

Best Buy is pursuing LEED certification as it opens new stores, Sinnen said. Some examples of the features of the new store here which opened Oct. 21:

More than two dozen large skylights to reduce electrical lighting. The old store had 250 overhead canister lights, and this one has 50, Sinnen said.

And those lights are on sensors. "Most days they don't come on until about 3:30," he said.

The store was painted with low-toxin paint and carpeted with low-toxin carpeting.
The store promotes auto-less shopping. Come in by bike, foot or bus and Best Buy will deliver your merchandise.

Have a bike tire go flat on the way? Best Buy will give you a tire patch kit, a place to work and help you repair it, Sinnen said.

Best Buy takes in many old electronics, including computer monitors and TVs up to 32 inches, for recycling. The fee is $10, but the person gets a $10 Best Buy gift card in exchange.

The recycling program includes baling cardboard and accepting household batteries for recycling.

The building uses low-flush toilets and low-flow faucets.


   

[Troy]

So how does this make the building more efficient? The fuel efficient cars get to pull right in and park where the inefficient cars have to drive around looking for a spot - and then drive to the door to pick up any big items. It's unlikely that the fuel efficient cars can hold any big electronics so they will have to be delivered (in a truck). I personally don't shop often enough at Best Buy to have it influence the type of car I'd buy.

Troy

[BrianShaughnessy]

Pursuing LEED ceritification is undoubtedly a corporate decision based upon lower operating costs and things like tax incentives which will impact the corporate bottom line more than losing a sale on a TV.   Publishing some geek BB manager's name in a forum read world wide is not really fair to him....   although he probably picked up extra copies of the newspaper for his mom anyway.   That really is a local issue.

You bought at Sears, saved some $ and now you'll get hounded by phone calls begging you to purchase their extended warranty on the TV for the next 3 years.   Whatever  

[Landonsrt]

Keep in mind with that Sears credit Card.. It has a rotating due date every month. Its never due on the same day. as soon as you get the bill, mail in the payment!
I bought a Sony Bravia 46 flatscreen and put it on my card. No interrest for 18 months. By the time the 18 months was almost up I had accrued another $800 in interest. I had to pay that off real quick before the end of month 18!

[Daytona R/T SE]

I think I'd park my Imperial across all three spots and leave it run while I wandered around their establishment for a couple of hours.

I'm sure during that time, I'd need to take a big shit and plug up one of their "lo-flow" toilets.

[Silver R/T]

that's pretty stupid policy

[moparguy01]

I got 1 big gas guzzling truck, who has 2 more? Lets go park there and say its more "fuel efficient" than our other cars......

[69bronzeT5]

Come Spring, when I go to Best Buy....I'm parking my Duster in their fuel efficent spots...hell, it's fuel efficent for a Mopar muscle car!

[jb666]

How ridiculous.. I might have to bring the wife there to shop tomorrow.. I'll live park right outside the front door.. With my engine running... 

[NHCharger]

Pursuing LEED ceritification is undoubtedly a corporate decision based upon lower operating costs and things like tax incentives

The company I work for is starting to build LEEDS certified buildings, there are several different levels of  LEEDS construction also. It all goes back to tax credits and the companies that rent office space from us get a warm fuzzy thinking they are saving the polar bears from extinction.   

[AKcharger]

I'd still park in those spots, since it's private property you can't be given a ticket 

[68X426]

Park a big RV in front, leave it idling, and then go to the business next door to shop.

[FLG]

Park in the spots and do a burnout while your there.

Explain to them (in the words of hemi doug) your "Giving rubber back to the earth"

[68X426]

An RV doing a burnout at the Best Buy. Brilliant.

[mauve66]

kinda like handicap parking at the mall....................... you can walk around the mall for hours but can't walk across the parking lot?  makes no sense

[Rolling_Thunder]

So...   when my Charger is done and I run it on E-85 does it qualify ? 

[resq302]

I'd still park in those spots, since it's private property you can't be given a ticket 

Unless they asked the town to pass a local ordinance like our mall where I work has.  Then the officers can give a ticket.

[Todd Wilson]

I think I'd park my Imperial across all three spots and leave it run while I wandered around their establishment for a couple of hours.

I'm sure during that time, I'd need to take a big shit and plug up one of their "lo-flow" toilets.

HAHA!   I couldnt have said it any better then that!!!!!!!!!


Todd

[41husk]

Folks, this is political postering!  If you parked a 69 hemi Daytona in one of there designated green area spots, How many people would question or could prove your fuel economy?  I think we should all park Muscle cars in all of those spots and tell them they are four cylinder cars!

[ACUDANUT]

  Why don't they instead have a "American Made" slots reserved up front. Oh, wait everything they sell is Asain Made. 

[68charger383]

A few years in CA back if you bought a $26K hybrid Prius/Civic then you could get yellow stickers which would allow you to drive in the car pool lanes even though you were a single rider. So why the masses were stuck in hour long traffic, these new green yuppies zip by doing 65 MPH.

Now I guess they will also get a preferred parking spot at Bestbuy  

[chargergirl]

Just reminds me of the lady who screamed at me about my gas guzzling dually when we get 22mpg while towing an enclosed trailer. It was fun to explain it was a deisel...she only gets 24mpg hwy so I told her she needed to check tire pressure, change a fuel filter...any filter...pick a filter...it was great! Any of this stuff we have to deal with just thank Al (do as I say, not as I do) Gore. His electric bill in his house is not cheap and he flies everywhere to let us know how un-green we are...love it!

[TexasStroker]

Yet another blown proposal...

If you yield a section of parking at a crowded store to "x" vehicle (in this case x=econbox) have you not just defeated what SHOULD really be the objective of such a proposal?  If you have a car that gets 40+ mpg and then a horrible, carbon footprint godzilla like one of us, does it not do more good to yield the reserved parking spot to the gas guzzler so that they may come in, idle briefly, and park immediately as opposed to make lap after lap searching for a parking spot?

It is this kind of "green" mentaility which you can find in legislation and ad campaigns across the nation...Simple intellect will dictate that more often than not the end result is a negative consequence, despite how "good" the original intentions were 

Fwiw, I despise shopping of any kind...and anywhere I go I park miles away from the nearest car 

[Arthu®]

The only way I think this is meant to help is to create an incentive for people to buy a more fuel efficient car. It's not that they are going to enforce rules, there is no set limit of when you can park there and when not. It's just to make buyers aware and possibly create some more benefits to owning one of these cars. My opinion is that it will never work, unless you set a limit and enforce that limit everybody is still going to park everywhere they want. That's the whole problem with these incentives anyway, they are never forcing enough to actually make a difference and that is for a reason of course. There are a lot of powerful people in this world that don't want us to start consuming less just yet. As opposing as what they might say.

Arthur

[moparstuart]

   i'm going to go peel some hybrid emblem  off a car and put them on my gas guzzler   

[451-74Charger]

Just go park your Charger or Hummer right in the spot, and when they say that doesnt get 30mpg, ask them to prove it !!

Then just say, it would downhill or being towed..

[ACUDANUT]

Just reminds me of the lady who screamed at me about my gas guzzling dually when we get 22mpg while towing an enclosed trailer. It was fun to explain it was a deisel...she only gets 24mpg hwy so I told her she needed to check tire pressure, change a fuel filter...any filter...pick a filter...it was great! Any of this stuff we have to deal with just thank Al (do as I say, not as I do) Gore. His electric bill in his house is not cheap and he flies everywhere to let us know how un-green we are...love it!

What kind of Diesel do you own. I have had all three, and none of them get that (pulling or not) 

[Ghoste]

How about just not go to Best Buy at all?  Let them know why if you want but really they need us a helluva lot more than we need them.

[74-StreetMachine]

   From what I understand this is the only store they are trying this at. If it goes well they will designate fuel efficient spots at ALL their stores. We need to stop this social disease before it spreads. So take a minute and let them know how you feel. You don't have to be vulgar or rude, just tell Keith his parking rules suck.

   From their site:  I am always open to hearing feedback from our customers.  If you would like to contact me; email me at keith.sinnen@bestbuy.com,  contact me by phone at (262)551-0074, or stop in the store to speak to me in person.


Thanks, Randy

[chargergirl]

Just reminds me of the lady who screamed at me about my gas guzzling dually when we get 22mpg while towing an enclosed trailer. It was fun to explain it was a deisel...she only gets 24mpg hwy so I told her she needed to check tire pressure, change a fuel filter...any filter...pick a filter...it was great! Any of this stuff we have to deal with just thank Al (do as I say, not as I do) Gore. His electric bill in his house is not cheap and he flies everywhere to let us know how un-green we are...love it!

What kind of Diesel do you own. I have had all three, and none of them get that (pulling or not) 

Dodge 2001, Cummings 24 valve, high output, 355 gears, 6 speed manual transmission, tow chip, K&N cold air box and tube, flow master from the turbo to the bumper...all our friends get upset when they have to stop for deisel and we still have just under a half. I think the difference is everyone else has 373 gears...it's the only difference in a couple of the trucks. We can get from Pensacola to Ocala towing on less than one tank of gas. Wish red fuel was still legal for street it gets 25 or better on it. BTW truck only has 105K on her. It also has a hard bed cover. Rides like a dream.

[ITSA426]

Most of the super big screen imports they want to sell you won't fit into the ultra small parking spaces, let alone the cars that can park there. 

I won't shop best buy 'til they turn the volume of the store music down so I can converse audibly with the uninformed help.

[charger_fan_4ever]

Just reminds me of the lady who screamed at me about my gas guzzling dually when we get 22mpg while towing an enclosed trailer. It was fun to explain it was a deisel...she only gets 24mpg hwy so I told her she needed to check tire pressure, change a fuel filter...any filter...pick a filter...it was great! Any of this stuff we have to deal with just thank Al (do as I say, not as I do) Gore. His electric bill in his house is not cheap and he flies everywhere to let us know how un-green we are...love it!

What kind of Diesel do you own. I have had all three, and none of them get that (pulling or not) 

Dodge 2001, Cummings 24 valve, high output, 355 gears, 6 speed manual transmission, tow chip, K&N cold air box and tube, flow master from the turbo to the bumper...all our friends get upset when they have to stop for deisel and we still have just under a half. I think the difference is everyone else has 373 gears...it's the only difference in a couple of the trucks. We can get from Pensacola to Ocala towing on less than one tank of gas. Wish red fuel was still legal for street it gets 25 or better on it. BTW truck only has 105K on her. It also has a hard bed cover. Rides like a dream.

I can vouch for the cummins

I have a 97 2500 4x4 club cab with a 5 speed 3.55 gears and 33 inch tires. Pump is turned up with 4 inch straight pipe exhaust. At 65 mph on the highway I get 25 mpg empty. Pulling a trailer less than 10,000lbs it drops down to 22 mpg. I've had 15,000 lbs and still got 20 mpg hauling.
Runs circles around the old powerjoke ford i had and sips threw a straw comparing mileage.

[Arthu®]

   From what I understand this is the only store they are trying this at. If it goes well they will designate fuel efficient spots at ALL their stores. We need to stop this social disease before it spreads. So take a minute and let them know how you feel. You don't have to be vulgar or rude, just tell Keith his parking rules suck.

   From their site:  I am always open to hearing feedback from our customers.  If you would like to contact me; email me at keith.sinnen@bestbuy.com,  contact me by phone at (262)551-0074, or stop in the store to speak to me in person.


Thanks, Randy

Is it really worth the effort and time to do this? I mean yes it is on their site, but we are not likely to be customers. Also he is probably just doing his job and trying to comply with this LEEDS thing to get the benefits from it. Are those 3 or so parking spaces really that important to you that you might have to park 10 meters further from the building or are you at best buy every day? I get your idea that they have taken away your right to park there, but really they haven't. If you want to park there you can still park there they are not going to enforce it. Will you get negative responses, probably, but do you really care? If it meant that much to me, I wouldn't. I would see this as an opportunity as there will a lot of people probably complying with this and that means that there will be a free spot every time you go there. Just leave the guy alone, he's just doing his job and that is hard enough in these times.

Arthur

[Ghoste]

It's less about the distance the spaces are from the building and very much more about helping to promote green piety that states that anyone who drives a non-approved gas guzzling dinosaur car is a lesser human citizen and deserves to be punished for their callous disreagard for Mother Earth.  I'm not being facetious, that may not be Best Buy's actual policy but it is absolutely a part of the green agenda that is creating the perceived corporate need for those policies.

[Arthu®]

I'm not being facetious, that may not be Best Buy's actual policy but it is absolutely a part of the green agenda that is creating the perceived corporate need for those policies.

It is probably my English, but what do you think is the cause of the need for these policies?

[Ghoste]

What is the cause for needing these policies?  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  For Best Buy, the one and only single real need for the cause to have these policies is the need they have to make more money.
According to the envirnmental lobbyists it's because I have a car that doesn't get the fuel mileage of a Toyota Pius or God forbid isn't electric.  I'm not naive enough to believe that people can and should do more for the environment.  However, I'm also not naive enough to believe a LOT of the anti-automotive rhetoric and misguided "fixes" that come from that same lobby group.  Perfect example here; a business which sells electronics (one of the most toxic manufacturing enterprises in the world BTW) and has the same electronic devices running flat out all day long (do they have Best Buys in Europe?) creates a few parking spots close to the door for cars that get good gas mileage.  Now they can run good press about how they care soooooo much for the environment that they did this.  The greens are happy and the general public is once again told that if you drive a car you are bad bad bad bad bad bad bad.  You can however be slightly less bad by driving a car thatsomebody else has approved of, it may not be the car that you would prefer to own but that is no longer the point in our new world order.  Those of us who still own the terrible ploanet destroyers now drive around the lot searching for a different spot burning fuel.  What was really saved?  Did Best Buy actually do anything for the environment?  Not from their retail end and not from the people who supply them either.  They made a special interest group happy and that is about it in my opinion.

[Arthu®]

What is the cause for needing these policies?  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  For Best Buy, the one and only single real need for the cause to have these policies is the need they have to make more money.
According to the envirnmental lobbyists it's because I have a car that doesn't get the fuel mileage of a Toyota Pius or God forbid isn't electric.  I'm not naive enough to believe that people can and should do more for the environment.  However, I'm also not naive enough to believe a LOT of the anti-automotive rhetoric and misguided "fixes" that come from that same lobby group.  Perfect example here; a business which sells electronics (one of the most toxic manufacturing enterprises in the world BTW) and has the same electronic devices running flat out all day long (do they have Best Buys in Europe?) creates a few parking spots close to the door for cars that get good gas mileage.  Now they can run good press about how they care soooooo much for the environment that they did this.  The greens are happy and the general public is once again told that if you drive a car you are bad bad bad bad bad bad bad.  You can however be slightly less bad by driving a car thatsomebody else has approved of, it may not be the car that you would prefer to own but that is no longer the point in our new world order.  Those of us who still own the terrible ploanet destroyers now drive around the lot searching for a different spot burning fuel.  What was really saved?  Did Best Buy actually do anything for the environment?  Not from their retail end and not from the people who supply them either.  They made a special interest group happy and that is about it in my opinion.

Well isn't the making more money a good enough reason for Best Buy to do it. Personally if it would have enough benefits and I was the manager of Best Buy I would designate a good percentage of the lot for these cars only. Personally I don't care much for the environmental rhetorics as I still don't perceive it as proven that we are the main cause of global warming. The only thing I do think is something that has been proven is the fact that fossil fuels are becoming let's say less plentiful. Therefore I wish that people would drop it as just an environmental issue and that they would just point out the good things about sustainability. A lot can be won and a lot of costs can be reduced by being more sustainable. And I do believe that making people aware of using more sustainable means to their life is a good thing. Do I believe the current hybrids are more sustainable, no, I regard it proven that they cost so much energy to produce that it is rather relative what they might be more efficient during their product life. But it does create a certain mind set.

But what my first point was is that you are barking up the wrong tree so to speak, this is just Best Buy taking advantage of certain policies, so instead of talking to them maybe those who oppose it should protest to the policy makers. And no there is no Best Buy in Europe that I am aware of. At least not in the Netherlands or Poland.

Oh yeah and I would stop worrying about what other people think of your car, if you like it and you can still afford to use it, by all means do. That's what's nice about living in a free country. However you will see that certain benefits will be given to people that drive those smaller more let's call them sustainable cars. I just know that there is nothing that can change my car buying behavior except maybe the fact that I wouldn't be able to afford it. But I actually care about cars, if people don't than yes by all means try to persuade them into buying more sustainable cars (these are the people that will also be most likely to be affected by such policies).

Arthur

[Ghoste]

You hit my point in your last paragraph though.  There is a strong movement here towards socialism and that freedom to have the car of your choice is slowly being threatened more all the time.  On the surface the Best Buy policy looks harmless.  What I am saying is that by laying down and saying it doesn't really affect me, the point becomes missed that it is reinforcing in the general public mind that certain cars are very bad to have.  You are about to see the vehicle choices become lessened and if it's because of free choice and sustainability, then great.  But if it is because a lobby group is exerting too much power, then to me it is wrong.  Make no mistake about it, the Sierra Club and their ilk want you old car off the road too.  A public shift to the cars they approve is only step 1.  They want ALL old cars off the road and they also want a definite lifespan on new cars.  When the time is up, the manufacturer must be forced to take it back and recycle it.  There will be no used cars and no salvage yards.  In effect, they only want you to purchase the user time on the vehicle and because they want to see us all in microcars, we should all be able to afford this user time in the green Utopia.
It may sound far fetched but their are already groups lobbying for this type of change (the Canadian Auto Workers union among them) and they all understand that it will take time and it begins with small steps like getting stores to tell customers that certain vehicles are more welcome on their property than other ones.

[Arthu®]

You hit my point in your last paragraph though.  There is a strong movement here towards socialism and that freedom to have the car of your choice is slowly being threatened more all the time.  On the surface the Best Buy policy looks harmless.  What I am saying is that by laying down and saying it doesn't really affect me, the point becomes missed that it is reinforcing in the general public mind that certain cars are very bad to have.  You are about to see the vehicle choices become lessened and if it's because of free choice and sustainability, then great.  But if it is because a lobby group is exerting too much power, then to me it is wrong.  Make no mistake about it, the Sierra Club and their ilk want you old car off the road too.  A public shift to the cars they approve is only step 1.  They want ALL old cars off the road and they also want a definite lifespan on new cars.  When the time is up, the manufacturer must be forced to take it back and recycle it.  There will be no used cars and no salvage yards.  In effect, they only want you to purchase the user time on the vehicle and because they want to see us all in microcars, we should all be able to afford this user time in the green Utopia.
It may sound far fetched but their are already groups lobbying for this type of change (the Canadian Auto Workers union among them) and they all understand that it will take time and it begins with small steps like getting stores to tell customers that certain vehicles are more welcome on their property than other ones.

Although I don't really see why a movement towards socialism would take the freedom of choice away, in my perception socialism is about something else. I'm not certain about U.S. law but here in the European Union or at least the Netherlands once a car accepted on their roads they are never allowed to change those conditions. They can have you take it off the road if you change it for example or if it pollutes more than the factory specs, but if it is the same car as they accepted on their roads way back than they will never be able to reverse it. So most definitely they want my old car off the road, I don't blame them it's polluting, inefficient and beyond all it doesn't even look very nice either, but there is just no legal way they can do this. All these things you mentioned relate to new cars and yes while this might be a future development that they have a definite lifespan that would probably be because of the bad quality and that they become throwaway objects. Much like TV's these days, TV's used to be repairable but these days the cost of repairs usually exceeds the price of a new one. I'm not sure if it is a bad thing or a good thing, it helps the economy and helps people keep their jobs. Plus I'm not very interested in any of the new cars they produce these days except maybe the super cars. So personally I'm not so afraid that they will take "our" cars away, there is not real ground for it anyways, because these classic cars get rarely driven on a day to day basis and are therefore such a small % of the car population that it is negligible.

Will they take more steps into banning certain vehicles from certain property, probably, but right now it's about 3 places or so and reality is that not a lot of people drive cars in the U.S. that are able to park there. They will never increase this to the entire lot if the majority of their customers drives cars that don't comply with it. And it will take more incentives than just parking at Best Buy to persuade the entire U.S. population to buy these more sustainable cars. It will probably mean that they will have to hurt the consumer's wallet, first and foremost probably by increasing the price of gas to a more realistic price. In the end you and I will probably drive a car that is more sustainable for every day life, just because it is more affordable. People will keep their toys and drive them just on sunny days. It's not such a bad thing, I just don't think there is a way around this problem and that if you resist you are on the losing end. We have to be realistic and realize that we as the human race have to manage our natural resources better. You can fight all this all you want, just like collective health care and gun rights, but whether you or I like it, we would probably be on the losing end. There are too many forces in the world these days that we are striving towards a more global economy and a more global community and local rules that differ from 90% of the rest of the world will have to go. Look at Europe, we are slowly turning into one big country. Most of our laws are already supranational and we are slowly expanding, Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine those are the countries that are next...

Arthur

[Brock Samson]

 
I'm not gonna read all that! 
I'm kiddin you of course,..
I gotta hand it to you Arthur - for tackling a very complex issue.
  The change in automotive habits is of great concern to us old muscle car enthusiasts and I'm sure we can begin to feel quite threatened by these pro-green trends that will eventually discourage our older machines.
The problem I have with this particular preferential parking policy is that it's like the proverbial camel getting it's nose into the tent.
Here in San Francisco there is a very definite trend against the private automobile I have detailed in earlier threads how City Govt. has in the past few years begun to "discourage" private auto use in favor of mass-transportation and especially in favor of bicycles.
I know trends differ in various regions - but here - increasingly there are more and more hybrids, bike lanes, areas of the city which exclude private motor vehicles, increasing laws regulating their use with increasing fines and a growing number of "enforcement personnel".
There are areas of the city I wont frequent anymore because parking has grown so dang expensive. To see a movie downtown can cost $11.oo in parking for just over two hours. 

[Arthu®]

The change in automotive habits is of great concern to us old muscle car enthusiasts and I'm sure we can begin to feel quite threatened by these pro-green trends that will eventually discourage our older machines.

First of all I don't think that the government will single out the classic cars as a target unless it becomes symbol of all that's bad. But I highly doubt that it will float well with the population if they start killing off people's pride and joy. There are quite a few classic car owners and it is a huge part of the economy that produces a lot of money as well (look at what people pay for restorations). The government will never kill this part of the economy, if they do they are complete idiots. While I sometimes believe some policy makers definitely are, I don't think they will be that stupid. They want to kill of the cars almost nobody cares about, so they want to make it unattractive for for example my Lada.

Everybody must just realize that any government that is somewhat democratic fears public revolt. It will never introduce a policy that is not backed up by a vast majority of the public.

The problem I have with this particular preferential parking policy is that it's like the proverbial camel getting it's nose into the tent.
Here in San Francisco there is a very definite trend against the private automobile I have detailed in earlier threads how City Govt. has in the past few years begun to "discourage" private auto use in favor of mass-transportation and especially in favor of bicycles.
I know trends differ in various regions - but here - increasingly there are more and more hybrids, bike lanes, areas of the city which exclude private motor vehicles, increasing laws regulating their use with increasing fines and a growing number of "enforcement personnel".
There are areas of the city I wont frequent anymore because parking has grown so dang expensive. To see a movie downtown can cost $11.oo in parking for just over two hours.  

These are most likely local policy makers and are things that can be dealt with by the city. Again it might seem like a aggressive trend at the moment but again this will level out. I mean local governments are also elected for a certain term and each and everyone of them wants to make as big as an influence as possible. That is why they introduce these sometimes absurd and aggressive policies. Right now it is probably backed up by most of the public but if they continue and policies such as above will put a huge strain on public transportation for example and ultimately limit people's freedom of movement. Than the people will start demanding their freedom back, or they'll move out of the city or won't come to the cinema anymore in the city. This will create lobbyists for the people that own the stores and cinema's that want their customers back or they'll close and move shop. Of course this is hugely oversimplified and there are a lat more factors that come into play with these policies.

In the end politics and policy making is just guessing what is the right thing to do that will give me as much result before the next election and keep me on the good side of the people.

Makes you wish sometimes you would live in a authoritarian regime they often make more sense in their policy making.

Arthur

Oh yeah I'm sorry but I just realized I made this a topic about politics, which do not really go here...

[Ghoste]

I guess I just put much much much less faith than you in the governments ability to utilize common sense.
The final point I might try to make without treading too much into politics is that we as car hobbyists seem to be far too complacent in my view.  We all too often have an attitude of "Oh they would never do that".  Then one day the township serves you a notice that you must get rid of the "derelict" car on your property because it violates some right to not see an old car ordinance.  The environmental movement however, harbor no such notions.  They preach constantly of fighting even the tiniest of battles.  They understand extremely well Brock's analogy of the getting the camels nose into the tent.  We on the other hand seem all to happy to just stay focused on the belly dancers until the camel blocks our view.  For the record it's going to be one big assed stubborn camel.

[Arthu®]

I guess I just put much much much less faith than you in the governments ability to utilize common sense.
The final point I might try to make without treading too much into politics is that we as car hobbyists seem to be far too complacent in my view.  We all too often have an attitude of "Oh they would never do that".  Then one day the township serves you a notice that you must get rid of the "derelict" car on your property because it violates some right to not see an old car ordinance.  The environmental movement however, harbor no such notions.  They preach constantly of fighting even the tiniest of battles.  They understand extremely well Brock's analogy of the getting the camels nose into the tent.  We on the other hand seem all to happy to just stay focused on the belly dancers until the camel blocks our view.  For the record it's going to be one big assed stubborn camel.

I guess we agree to disagree, indeed I put more faith in them utilizing common sense just because most of the time most non-common sense policies don't boat well with the general public. But I guess only the future can tell us who will be right, I sure hope I am haha and not only because I like to be right but also because I would like to keep my cars.

Arthur

[Brock Samson]

 We on the other hand seem all to happy to just stay focused on the belly dancers until the camel blocks our view.  For the record it's going to be one big assed stubborn camel.

I sure like your analogy better than mine...  

 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYK7h9uNSNk

[moparjohn]

Where I live, in central NJ, public transportation is a gov-sub JOKE! We are a rural area that has small towns 5-10 miles apart with NO RAILROADS (because the government forced them out of business after WW11) to connect them.  So my local county buys fancy "short bus" vehicles called the Link.  They are ALWAYS empty, sometimes you see 1 or two riders. The fare is like less than a dollar, for a a day back and forth, so it does not pay for itself (the only reason needed to get rid of it) so it's paid buy are taxes, which are, BTW one of the highest IN THE COUNTRY!!! (2nd reason) the buses cost 56K plus, the have paid drivers, dispatchers and mechanics, (3rd and 4th) So all in all a few people have a "free ride" that is paid by me and countless others.  Meanwhile, a guy wants to open a Taxicab business, self employeed, earns his own way, IMO a great idea, the county wants to make a "rule guide" for that business to CONTROL how much he can charge for fares PRICELESS! So I agree, get these "huggers" away from making special rules because their fumes don't stink, our government started killing the auto industry in the late 60's and haven't quite finished yet.