Exposing Black Friday's Parking Perversion

Parking lots across the U.S. are designed to accommodate the crowds of cars participating in the busiest shopping day of the year. By asking his readers to capture images of underutilized lots last Friday, Chuck Marohn set out to expose the fallacy.

1 minute read

December 2, 2013, 1:00 PM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


South Mall Parking Lot

Scott Alderfer / Twitter

Marohn's inaugural #BlackFridayParking social media campaign was a tremendous success, with dozens of contributors helping to expose the "ridiculous" policies that mandate the oceans of overbuilt parking that blight our landscapes. 

"Can you imagine Wal-Mart building an entire row of their store and then leaving the shelves empty? It would be ridiculous. Why then do we simply accept that large swaths of their land would be built upon for a use (parking) that literally never happens? We accept it because that is the price of entry, the cost of complying with local regulations," he writes. 

"Here's the great thing: the solution to this problem is really, really easy. All a city needs to do is repeal their parking minimums. If you want to stop this ridiculous waste of resources, support small businesses, encourage reuse of existing properties, limit environmental degradation and make your city financially stronger, just repeal your minimum parking requirement. No lawyer or expensive consultant is necessary."

Monday, December 2, 2013 in Strong Towns

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