Besides charging high rent for dilapidated housing, Madison's landlords have found a new way to exploit their tenants: parking.
In the downtown area, which is where most of the student body resides, parking averages anywhere from $60 to more than $100 a month. This is ridiculous when it is considered that in an area such as Oshkosh a decent apartment rents for $200. It is obvious that Madison is not Oshkosh, there are more people in a smaller area, and therefore it is only logical that more people competing for less room results in higher prices.
However, the cost of parking has escalated to such an extreme level that only those with ample parental subsidies or lucrative jobs (which leave little time for studying and thus are biased against students) can compete in this game of pavement monopoly.
What makes the landlords so shameful is how they subdivide their property. They will take a three story house, split it into three flats, rent them out and then blacktop the house's backyard, making it into a private parking lot, so that if one wants to park at their own house they have to a pay a separate, exorbitant fee. It is like buying a cow and then having the farmer charge you to drink the milk produced by said cow. The backyard should be the domain of the resident, whether it be for playing catch or parking a car, not to be steamrolled and whored out to the highest bidder.
If competition for parking is to be fair the price barrier for entry needs to be set at a more reasonable level. With an average rent payment of $400, a $100 per month parking space would constitute 25 percent of the apartment cost. Obviously, a 5 foot by 10 foot parking space is not 25 percent of a 1,500 sq. foot apartment. The problem with this comparison is that parking is scarcer than housing; therefore the two costs are not comparable.
However, even if parking pricing should be based on a higher rate, the current situation of a 25 percent premium for 3.5 percent of the square footage seems outrageous, especially when considering one is meant to house people and one automobiles.
One alternative is to purchase a parking pass from the city of Madison for the low cost of $20 a year. However, since this pass does not guarantee one a place to park, it is an unsure alternative that many are rightfully not willing to risk. Also, once the snow rolls in, which can last for large portions of both fall and spring semesters, half of the street parking disappears due to snow emergency parking procedures, thus making street parking an even more unattractive option.
Some may argue, \Cars are not really necessary in a dense urban area like central Madison, therefore let those who are ridiculous enough to think they need a car pay the ridiculous cost required to keep one.""
However, one of the basic liberties protected by our constitution is freedom of travel. One of the major premises of our country is that anyone should be free to go wherever they want at any time. Madison's exorbitant parking costs place an undue burden on the freedom of motion of those who reside here. Also, there are many legitimate reasons to keep a car here: grocery shopping, being able to visit home without making your parents drive and, most important of all, the transportation of heavy kegs.
Many cities enforce rent controls to keep down the costs of housing, because everyone has a right to shelter. Since freedom of travel is a similar universal right the city council of Madison should strongly consider implanting some sort of parking-rent controls so that the competition for parking is open to all, not just those of ample means.
