An annual social media project underscores just how much parking goes unused, even on the busiest shopping days.

To celebrate the upcoming holiday weekend, Strong Towns continues its annual tradition of highlighting wasteful land use in U.S. cities, particularly at malls at shopping centers that, even on the ostensibly busiest shopping day of the year, are hardly full.
As Ben Abramson explains, the organization calls on parking reform advocates to post their own images of vacant parking with the hashtag #BlackFridayParking. “As Strong Towns has shown over the years, thousands of acres have been paved over to prepare for a mythical maximum number of shoppers on Black Friday. From a municipality’s perspective, this land is completely unproductive and may become a liability.”
For Strong Towns, the action is one way to promote policy changes that make more productive use of urban and suburban space. “Here’s hoping we can reconvene at this time next year to celebrate all the cities and towns that have done just that.”
FULL STORY: Black Friday Parking 2024: Help Us Turn Bad Land Use Into Better Policy

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
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Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
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MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
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