Photo: Dan Ryan via Twitter
Go to an American supermarket's parking log at any given time, and it will always be at least half-empty. But that's OK, because there are days like Black Friday when it will be filled to the brim.
Except it won't. All the parking places of malls or supermarkets seem to have been created with the "best case scenario" for that business in mind, where all the population in the vicinity comes to shop at the same time. Something that clearly never happens.
So what's the problem, right? After all, it's their land, they can do whatever they want with it? It's their loss. Well, yes and no. It is, first of all, the loss of each particular business, that's for sure, since it's not exploiting the full potential of its property and is wastes precious acreage.
But it's also the community that suffers, and the local economy as well. That wasted space could have been used for other, more useful purposes like housing, parks or even additional businesses. Ten square feet of asphalt that are never being used for their intended purpose are ten square feet of nature that have been sacrificed for nothing.
The problem lies with local authorities who use obsolete policies for the minimum number of parking places a developer must have for his business. It's them people need to convince to do something about it, and the #BlackFridayParking aims to do just that.
This campaign encourages people to take photos of the parking lots of their local commercial businesses and upload them on the special website. The idea is that empty parking spaces on the year's busiest shopping day should raise some flags with local authorities who might finally do something about it.
And with online sales becoming more and more popular, these huge parking lots are becoming antiquated, just like drive-in cinemas did back in the day. There are some cities who have taken action and reclaimed some of the lost space, but they're a minority. Hopefully, more and more will follow shortly and people hunting for the #BlackFridayParking campaign will have a tough time finding empty parking spaces.
So what's the problem, right? After all, it's their land, they can do whatever they want with it? It's their loss. Well, yes and no. It is, first of all, the loss of each particular business, that's for sure, since it's not exploiting the full potential of its property and is wastes precious acreage.
But it's also the community that suffers, and the local economy as well. That wasted space could have been used for other, more useful purposes like housing, parks or even additional businesses. Ten square feet of asphalt that are never being used for their intended purpose are ten square feet of nature that have been sacrificed for nothing.
The problem lies with local authorities who use obsolete policies for the minimum number of parking places a developer must have for his business. It's them people need to convince to do something about it, and the #BlackFridayParking aims to do just that.
This campaign encourages people to take photos of the parking lots of their local commercial businesses and upload them on the special website. The idea is that empty parking spaces on the year's busiest shopping day should raise some flags with local authorities who might finally do something about it.
And with online sales becoming more and more popular, these huge parking lots are becoming antiquated, just like drive-in cinemas did back in the day. There are some cities who have taken action and reclaimed some of the lost space, but they're a minority. Hopefully, more and more will follow shortly and people hunting for the #BlackFridayParking campaign will have a tough time finding empty parking spaces.
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