In July, the City Planning Commission listened to residents like you and voted to deny the University Area Off-Street Parking Overlay, saying it was inconsistent with the City's master plan and would hurt future production of affordable housing.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean this fight is over. The New Orleans City Council will still consider this bill to mandate unneeded, expensive parking on new development in neighborhoods near Tulane and Loyola universities. If it's passed, new and rehabbed housing will be made more expensive in the middle of a housing crisis and it will be harder to preserve and grow transit-friendly, affordable and convenient neighborhoods.

That means we need your help again! Will you make a call to your Councilmember and let them know why you oppose these efforts?

Unsure what to say? Here are some reasons why we think the University Area Off-Street Parking Overlay is a bad idea:

• It will mean more pavement: Mandating more parking spaces doesn’t mean new housing construction will stop. It just means that the housing construction will have more pavement, adding to street flooding, with less trees and more curb cuts that make it more difficult and less safe for people to walk in their neighborhoods.
• It will mean less affordable housing: Mandating more parking spaces means the housing that continues to be built will be more expensive as additional parking costs are passed on to the buyer or renter. And it means affordable housing developers can’t develop as much affordable housing due to the increased costs of additional parking.
• Over time it will mean worse transit service: Mandating more parking spaces means transit reliant neighbors are priced out of neighborhoods and car use is incentivized. This would make it even more difficult for the RTA to provide effective service. The dirty secret of quality transit is that land use matters – and making it so neighborhoods only have expensive single-family homes or really expensive doubles means the RTA will be fighting more of an uphill battle to provide frequent reliable service for all neighborhoods.

Here is a list of City Council Phone numbers, if you aren't sure who your councilperson is, you can check their district maps by checking the site here or clicking on the links on the list below. 

• Helena Moreno, Councilmember-At-Large: 504-658-1060
• Donna Glapion, Councilmember-At-Large: 504-658-1070
• Joseph I. Giarrusso III, Councilmember District "A": 504-658-1010
• Jay H. Banks, Councilmember District "B": 504-658-1020
• Kristin Gisleson Palmer, Councilmember District "C": 504-658-1030
• Jared C. Brossett, Councilmember District "D": 504-658-1040
• Cyndi Nguyen, Councilmember District "E": 504-658-1050

Can you make a call? Please let us know by signing up below so we can keep track of communications against this unneeded and problematic bill!