This may be a segue out of the topic. Right now, the city or town grants business permits to all applicants on the pretext that it will perk up the economy. Take the case of some restaurants with no parking area for their customers. That's clearly a violation of traffic laws but restaurants like that are able to get business permits to operate, using the street for the parking of their customers. And now that the traffic is a blown up issue, everyone realizes what's really happening on the road regarding vehicles.
Corzhens, your comments suggest to me that your citizens are dealing with a bunch of looney political gunfighers standing in a circle, inward-facing, shooting at each other. Who says a restaurant in an urban city needs its own parking places? The possible solutions are the same as I wrote above in the second thread message above. Improve (fix) the public transportation and that includes reasonable taxicab regulations. Encourage businessmen to get into the business of building and operating parking garages and lots; Manila collects tax revenue without investing in infrastructure. An efficient parking authority, towing vehicles subject to fines, towing and storage fees, can clear streets in a hurry. Kill the permitting process and give police the authority to clear the streets. (Just look at what Philadelphia did to clear out vehicles from center city when the Pope came to town last month. The no-vehicle zone was larger than Vatican City/State.) Your messages read as if you need to drop a note into a suggestion box or run for office. My condolences to you for having to put up with a political gang that can't shoot straight.
I think when we hear about laws that are being implemented in other countries it makes you realise just how lenient the laws were you live can be. That kind of law would never work in the UK either and while we also have some laws in place that make you shake your head, at least we don't have anything as nonsensical as that to deal with.
I think you have to really look at how that does benefit the homeowner. I can understand it causes issues with some homeowners because it could possibly cost more when you think of the cost of property tax but that varies with each country. I know that in America, where I live near Norfolk, VA, parking on the street causes a host of issues with car damage or break ins. If each resident had a garage or drive way it would cut back on that.
Restaurants with no parking is a separate issue and it is not too uncommon. The owners of these establishments expect that their customer base will be locals who can easily walk to the restaurant from home or their place of work. Housing is a separate issue because people have to have a place to park near their homes.
