What if it cost more to park during peak times on Fridays and Saturdays in downtown Baltimore? And what if the hourly cost increased, the longer you stayed in the spot? ($1 for the first hour, $2 for the second hour.)

This idea (“performance-based parking”) is discussed in a little meditation on Baltimore’s perrenial parking problems by the folks over at Urban Discoveries.

(It’s an urban lifestyles blog maintained by some Baltimore realtors who seem to be spending their recession down-time reading up on urban theorists like Donald Shoup and blogging cheerfully about cool things to do in the city when you’re broke.)

Would performance-based parking disempact the city’s car-clogged streets and induce the George Costanzas among us to take the bus? Or would it just cause the Costanzas among us to go postal?