Avoiding the 1% solution

By Mike Kozlowski

Avoiding the 1% solution

Governments often seek to take what is otherwise a relatively successful set of obligations, ordinances and common practices and try to increase something that is 99% successful the last 1% but at extraordinary cost and with very little chance of having the desired affect without negative consequences.

A great example is local zoning ordinances. Most retail operations in suburban locations are required by ordinance to provide a parking lot of adequate capacity to allow the number of cars that will be at the store on the day after thanksgiving. That means that the business owner must buy the land, improve it to make it a parking space and maintain it throughout the year to allow a car to park in it one day of the year. This is to deal with the relatively small inconvenience of an overfull lot that one day of the year. A smaller lot is perfectly suitable on every other day and the up front and on-going savings could mean a more successful business and greater employment.

Our desire for perfect solutions needs to be tempered with practical use of our resourses. This is true for parking spaces, energy, open space, and virtually all government services.