Black & Blue - Black Friday Parking Blues

Charles Marohn at the Strong Towns blog had a great idea last week when he asked followers of that blog to Tweet photos of Black Friday parking lots around the country with the hashtag “#BlackFridayParking.” The Strong Towns blog then ran a live feed of the results as lots of folks from around the country posted pics of vastly underused parking lots to help emphasize the need for reform of minimum parking standards.

Here are some shots I took at South Mall in Allentown, PA, around 9:30 AM on Black Friday. Not much going on there.

Front (east side) of Allentown's South Mall. Around 9:30 AM Plenty of

available parking. (photo by author).

South end of South Mall. More wasted spaces. (photo by author).

Who would even want to park here if the rest of the lot was totally full? This

photo is the side lot of the Ross department store shown in the preceding

photo. There is not even an entrance anywhere on this entire side of the

building. Wasted spaces. (photo by author).

My friend Ron Beitler took this photo in the early afternoon on Black Friday at the Caramoor Village strip mall in Macungie, PA. Again, overkill on the parking spaces. Ron also blogged about Black Friday Parking at: http://www.ronbeitler.com/2013/11/29/the-ridiculousness-of-minimum-parking-standards/.

Dozens of photos from other shopping centers around the country showed similar scenes – deserted asphalt at all but the couple hundred feet immediately surrounding big box stores and strip malls. I think Strong Towns had a great idea in organizing this Twitter event, because it hopefully will help to spark discussion around the country about how minimum parking standards waste both dollars and space, creating eyesores that are daunting to pedestrian traffic while they create unnecessary stormwater runoff. We all need to let our local officials know that we demand intelligent design standards for new developments and redevelopment projects.

I also will acknowledge that these #BlackFridayParking Twitter pics certainly do not constitute a scientific study of this problem. I don’t think that Charles Marohn intended this experiment to be anything more than an exercise in anecdotes.

However, these photos from around the country got me thinking back 30+ years ago to when I worked part time at the Sears store at Montgomery Mall near Lansdale in suburban Philadelphia. I remember jam-packed parking lots at the mall on Black Friday as well as in the evenings 3-4 days before Christmas Eve. I have to wonder whether the week before Christmas in the first dozen years of the 21^st century has continued to max out parking capacity at Montgomery Mall. Specifically, I wonder if the explosion of on-line shopping over the past 10 years has relieved some of the load on mall parking lots during the holiday shopping season. I’m not sure how a researcher could actually go back to look at parking density throughout holiday shopping seasons over the past 15 years to try to identify trends that could be correlated to the increasing popularity of or dependence on internet shopping (unless NSA would be willing to share some historic satellite images with us).

Frankly, I would be surprised if the advent of the on-line economy has not relieved some of the parking pressure at mortar & bricks retail establishments. And in that likely case, how crazy would it be for municipalities to continue to rely on minimum parking standards that were written for a pre-internet world?

The Most Important Day of the Year for Conservation Issues

Today, Election Day, is probably the most important day of the year for anyone concerned about conservation issues. Today is the day that each of us who are registered to vote have the ability to join together to shape the future debate on matters such as Smart Growth, protection of fisheries, endangered species preservation, and whether gas drillers should have to pay a tax on the volume of natural gas they produce (like they do in every state except Pennsylvania).

I think Election Day is pretty darn exciting. Aren't each of us somewhat honored when our peers ask for us our opinion about something (other than when telemarketers are doing surveys)? I love having the opportunity twice a year to go into a voting booth and cast my ballot for issues I think are important and for candidates who I think will champion the issues that I feel are important. 

Today is the day that each of us has the opportunity to go to the polls and vote for the candidate or candidates who are best aligned with our conservation ideals. How many people do you know who care deeply about environmental issues but fail to show up at the polls for every election? The percentages turnout of of registered voters vary by community around the country. In my municipality, it tends to range between 12-14%. Pretty poor.

I spent about an hour and a half this morning handing out campaign literature to voters arriving at a local polling station. I was hearing reports that turnout appeared to be pretty good (as of mid-morning) compared with recent general election years. The weather started out cold, but by midday now, it's party sunny and in the low 50's. So that could help boost turnout. It's sad that people in other countries would kill or die for the right to vote, and some of our own neighbors won't go vote if the weather seems inconvenient.

But I saw something this morning at the polling place that still has me scratching my head. Within 5 minutes of each other, I saw two cars pull in, each with a man and a woman. In both cases, the gentleman got out of the car and went inside to vote. Both women remained in their respective cars. One of them appeared to be doing her nails. The other one was reading a newspaper. These two women were 40 feet away from the door of the polling place, and they did not get out of the car and walk inside to vote. I don't get it.

It can be very time consuming and potentially frustrating to attend municipal and county commissioner meetings  a couple times a month to keep an eye on our elected officials and share our opinions with them. But two times a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, when we have the opportunity, the privilege, to cast our vote, why on earth would we not do so? Many folks complain that both major political parties have been taken over by extremists. That just means it's time for the average person to get out there to modulate who is getting elected to office. It's most crucial in local elections, because the local level is where the decisions are made that impact our daily lives. 

There are just under 7 hours remaining today to vote. If you have not done so yet, please get up, walk, bike, or drive to your polling place, and cast your vote. Because today is the day that your opinion matters the most.

Why Smart Growth is a Conservation Issue

Some readers who have heard the term Smart Growth might recall that the term somehow has something to do with zoning or deciding whether to build a new strip mall or similar sedentary activities.  And they might think, 'Why should I care about a new Walmart?  I just want to fish, or watch birds, or (fill in your favorite outdoor activity here).'

Stream Hugger has always been about interpreting conservation issues in a way that is relatable to the general public.  I hope this particular post will explain how certain land use decisions, even in already developed areas, can affect the environment in surrounding undeveloped areas.

Smart Growth is a land use principle that can be summed up in two words:  common sense. Instead of allowing unchecked sprawl in the hope of future prosperity and publicly funding infrastructure with no regard for its long-term costs, we need to call a time out.  Take a deep breath.  Get it through our heads that we are not in a big, imaginary race against the neighboring municipality to get built-out before they do so that we can get our share of the riches that developers always promise.  The ruse that we have to allow property owners to do what they want with their hundred-acre parcels in the name of "property rights" and "stimulating the economy" is hogwash, because every other property owner in that community has a right to not have their properties adversely affected by poorly vetted and illogical new development.

From the Smart Growth America website, "Smart growth means building urban, suburban and rural communities with housing and transportation choices near jobs, shops and schools. This approach supports local economies and protects the environment." Let's focus on how Smart Growth can protect the environment.

This big-box store has way more parking spaces than it needs,
which needlessly creates more stormwater runoff than it should.

Projects that are approved and built under Smart Growth principles tend to require less pavement than traditional projects. So more of the precipitation that falls on a parcel can soak into the soil to recharge groundwater rather than running off to a municipal stormwater system. For commercial developments, Smart Growth can mean requiring a realistic number of parking spaces rather than a cookbook number of parking spaces based soley on square-footage of the buildings. This reduction in parking space, as well as allowing new types of permeable paving options and encouraging green roofs, can result in significant decreases in stormwater runoff compared with traditional big-box development practices.

Smart Growth, however, is not just about what we build. It’s also about where we build.  Smart Growth encourages building more densely in already developed areas – building where the people already are. If we encourage development in areas in or near where people are already working, going to school, shopping, and playing, we can minimize the footprint of new development.  Concentrating the growth near existing uses helps to keep surrounding open spaces open so that they can continue to absorb and filter stormwater runoff as nature intended.

A recently published study showed that even modest increases in development density can significantly reduce water quality problems associated with development. The study, from the Chesapeake Bay watershed, found that when development was concentrated it required about half as much impervious surface as sparsely developed land and resulted in 43% less polluting runoff stormwater runoff.

By focusing development on already-developed areas we are also preserving wildlife habitat. Habitat loss is the main threat to 80% of the threatened and endangered species in the U.S. Focusing growth within an existing community, rather than outside of town on a greenfield, helps preserve wildlife habitat, protects water quality and avoids the costs associated with dispersed infrastructure.

Studies have found that smart growth development helps bird species flourish, with more birds and a greater diversity of species in smart growth areas than areas with dispersed development. Protecting open space, parks and farmland means strengthening existing communities, attracting businesses, and avoiding the costs associated with supporting dispersed infrastructure. Communities with well-maintained neighborhood parks and extensive park systems have been shown to consistently attract and retain businesses.

Smart growth offers aesthetic and economic advantages for our communities. And it can protect wildlife habitat and water quality in the undeveloped areas that we rely on for rest and relaxation. We need to demand that our municipal officials get on board with Smart Growth principles.