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Detroit, 7:56 AM
Tue Dec 1
28 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/26/09
They can be beautiful too, thank Zaha Hadid for this work of art.
11/26/09
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11/26/09
More typically, there are parking lots with planted areas spaced frequently and graded so that water runs into those plantings, or is collected in a subsurface drainage system and permitted to percolate into the groundwater, via either a perforated underground cistern or through retention/detention basins that can look like ponds.
The pollution from roads, parking lots and lawns is called non-point source pollution, describing how diffuse it is. It is a serious problem for lots of waterways. It is fairly common for parking lot drainage systems to include oil/sand separators in their drainage boxes, to limit what pollutants travel further towards the water.
The Chesapeake Bay's water quality problems are now much more influenced by lawn and field runoff carrying fertilizers, weedkiller, pesticides, and pet poop. Dialing back on all that, and making minor landscape changes so stormwater can percolate into the soil before reaching the Bay will lead to immense improvements in the Bay's health.
11/25/09
I like this writeup and agree. As an urban dweller, I fully appreciate the (free) parking lot, and as an ex-suburbanite, parking lots were the only places (besides car washes) that we teens were allowed to hang out. ("Bowl another game or GTFO!") When I'm back in Michigan, I'm often tempted to drive places just because they have a parking lot, and I can park back in the driveway when I get home. Appreciate the small stuff.
My only addition to this piece would be to mention Ed Ruscha's 1967 photobook Thirtyfour Parking Lots. It contains pics of, yup, 34 parking lots, and tries to emphasize the beauty of these most banal of settings, much like Sam "PL" Smith has done in this writeup. Pic attached.
I'm glad I actually read through the comments before posting too, because I was going to cry out for the inclusion of Heavy Metal Parking Lot. (I lack the plug-ins at work to see what the vids are of, and lack the permissions to install them. Life is struggle.)
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@Hopman:
11/25/09
You're crazy. There's a Costco parking lot across the street from where I work. The thing is literally the size of about 6 football fields, but even at its busiest it's only half full.
If every unnecessary parking lot was instead a park, that would be a wonderful thing. Too many nice forests have been bulldozed for these "great unintentional achievements."
11/26/09
Why isn't there a diner here?
11/25/09
11/25/09
Ghost Parking Lot, Hampden CT. Add artists and stir, and pave.
11/25/09
Hamden Plaza also had this sweet mural right next to the ghost cars:
[www.richardhaas.com]
11/25/09
11/25/09
How true! Parking lots are very important in everyone’s life, like are the home and the car itself… last week in Milan a guy killed a neighbour, who was used to steal his parking lot. Probably, he could have tolerated that guy stealing his wife, but his reserved, personal parking lot in the condo’s inner courtyard no, by God! As to my personal experience, the best fringe benefit I ever got from my Company, is my internal parking lot n. 8. Yes, outside our fence always existed a huge parking for all the simple workers and employees, while inside the fence the parking was only allowed to top managers and directors. Since I always had a flexible timetable, many late mornings it happened to me to have to waste time, searching for a free parking place… so, one day I decided to cross the Rubicon of our main gate, and parked between the leadership... Incredibly, no one kicked me out… may be because they knew I was working like a manager, even if I was being paid like a low employee. Later, the staff increased and management had to allow at least the elder employees, to park inside the fence as well. Then they came to me: "Roberto, you are already parking inside, so you can just keep your parking lot n. 8". And it’s been 20 years since then. Should I arrive late at work it’s always free, because everyone knows that, if I had to find my place occupied, I’d not have peace until I find the illegal occupier... Hell, a personal parking lot is something precious, to be cared for!
11/25/09
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11/25/09
I am so thankful for Jalopnik this year.
11/25/09
But it wasn't always like this. There were glory days. Days of smooth asphalt and trimmed hedges. Afternoons of warm sunshine basking across it's blackness giving way to the cool washing of an evening rain. Memories of people gathering, talking, fooling around frolicking in it's openness. Even the vehicles that cruised in and out of it were of a different stature; cleaner, straighter, and more interesting. It was a happier time then.
Time took it's toll. The cracks grew, the depressions turned to holes. Grass crept up through the ever widening fissures. Edges crumbled, and shrubbery died. A little love is all it would have taken to maintain it's life. A little love and respect. Instead, it was a Case front end loader and a couple of dump trucks.
When I finished reading this article, I got up from my desk and walked outside. I stood in the middle of the lot and pondered. Around me, the cold lifeless dirt, hard unfeeling rocks, and a few inanimate hulks of rusting steel sat parked waiting till the end of the day when their pilots would return to them and they would belch their acrid fumes. Silence. A breeze blew a crumpled discarded fast food wrapper
a few inches away. Silence.
I fell to my knees and pounded the lifless dirt.
"You maniacs!" I cried out.
"DAMN YOU. DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!"
11/25/09
BTW, I was picturing a Don Draper, holding a glass of scotch, looking with the tiniest but most confident of smiles, then bursting into activity, calling Peggy to dictate his latest great idea.
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