I think one of the biggest issues with the CM parking lot on Lamar is that it is just always packed. The driving aisles are narrow and it is hard to get into and out of parking spots because there is always a car parked on either side of the spot you are trying to get in to. Forget trying to get in there during lunch time.
Hippy, next time you are at the HEB Plus on Palm Valley if you see a big ol’ Expedition with a “Coexist” bumper sticker on it, stop by and say “Hi”! That’s right Facts, I am a Texan and I drive a land yacht.
I’m still wondering what “a properly sized car” is. Care to give us your definition, The Facts? Or are you content to just be a stereotype of liberal outrage?
If a row of spaces for small-to-medium cars had space for, say, 25 cars, how many medium-to-large cars could fit? 22? 24?
It seems to me they can separate a car park into small car sections (slightly narrower than current) and large car sections (slightly wider than current), and that would balance out the total number of spaces.
Since you don’t drive, you might not be familiar with the reality that drivers park whatever they want wherever they want (half the time you can’t see the “No Parking - Fire Lane” signs for drivers parked in front of them). I don’t mean that snarkily - it’s just the way it is.
No, because if everyone parks more to the right, then the car on your left is closer to you and you don’t have any more room. What actually would help is for every other car to back in, and for everyone to keep to the right. Then the passengers’ sides would be close together, and the drivers’ sides would have twice as much room.
Except that some of us have car seats or other reasons why we can’t afford to make the passenger side inaccessible.
Sure you can!
Complain to the manager of the store about it. Something like “I really like the prices & selection in your store, but I hate that it’s so hard to shop here. The parking lot spaces are so small that it’s such a pain to come here. I end up going to the XYZ market down the street, just because parking is so much easier. Even though I don’t like their store as much.” Mention it to a couple of other store employees, too.
It won’t take all that many statements like this for a manager to become concerned.
To tag on another rant, which may seem a little impolitic, what’s with the proliferation of disabled parking spaces? I have no beef with the disabled (who does?) but stores around here seem to be engaged in an arms race as to who can provide the most disabled parking spots. Are they really expecting that many quadriplegics to arrive en masse? Would it kill them to limit themselves to a mere ten disabled parking spots, as opposed to row upon row of them? Then, once they’ve exhausted the parking spots for the disabled, they begin anew with dedicated spots for parents and children.
Note, I’m in the UK. Generally, even supermarkets in cities have a relatively small car park compared to the American “sea of tarmac” innovation. Many times, when it’s busy, it’s very hard to find a car parking space, and it’s incredibly frustrating to see row upon row of parking spaces effectively removed from the car park due to restrictions on who can use them.
Oh GRRRR! Don’t get me started on the “pregnant and parents with children” spots. How idiotic. We are pregnant (well, was in my case, as I’m now a granny, not a parent of little ones :D), not infirm! And frankly a little walk in the fresh air is good for anyone. A slight hijack, but that mentality just drives me bonkers. That is, that pregnant women and/or parents with babies and toddlers must be treated as if they are delicate glass vases or something.
end hijack.
Never been to the Central Market in Austin, but the one here in Houston has very adequate parking spaces (drive what would be classified as a full size sedan).
Too bad they didn’t follow the same concept with isle space inside the store…
Around my area, the trend is for “parents with children” but not “pregnant” spots…and they’re not close to the entrance, they’re close to the cart corral, which suddenly makes a heck of a lot more sense (less pushing the cart around after you remove baby from cart seat).
I understand land yachts in some places, like Texas. Sometimes, what you need to do needs a land yacht. But seriously, yuppies that never go outside of the city except to camp at the campground an hour away? No land yacht for you.
In Saskatchewan, you get a discount on vehicle registration if you can prove your land yacht is used in a farming operation. I’d like to see the opposite on city dwellers. That would cut down on urban land yachts.
I like the term land yacht. Thanks, guys, for introducing me to it.
Zoning codes in the 1950s, when minimum parking requirements were first established, based the number of spaces needed for a use or building on worst-case scenarios; basically, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year. The lots sit mostly empty the rest of the year. The numbers in the older codes are institutional relics that continue to live on.
Planners are beginning to recognize this. The zoning and development codes I’ve written establish parking maximums, not minimums; it’s similar to the way parking is regulated in the UK. The maximums are usually much less than the old minimums. It’s ont easy to change old habits. The most vocal opposition to parking maximums comes from big box retailers and shopping center developers; they use the large parking capacity as a selling point to tenants, and falsely claim that they can’t get financing for new projects if they don’t have an ungodly number of spaces. Outside of the largest metropolitan areas, commercial land in the United States is relatively inexpensive, so it’s not a burden to a retailer or developer to provide spaces to meet a 100-year parking event.
Little-known fact: the police can enforce laws about parking in handicapped spaces, but can’t do a thing about “stork spaces”, senior citizen spaces, perpetually vacant employee of the month spaces, and so on.
I’ve seen these stork spaces referenced on the boards only, but have thankfully never been exposed to such nonsense in real life. Half of me would probably park in the space if I ever saw one just to be an ass, but the other part wouldn’t do it, because doing so would make me an ass.
There used to be a hardware store/lumberyard that I’d drive past two big box home centers to patronize. In large part because they had parking spaces intended to accommodate full-size pickup trucks…like you need to drive when you go to pick up a load of lumber, or roofing material, etc. They also had a wonderful service counter where they would crimp new ends on your old garden hose, or replace the fabric in a window screen and modest cost.
Sadly, while they were able to stay open after Home Depot came to town, the arrival of Lowes was too much.
Albuquerque dopers will probably know I’m talking about Baldridge.
If it’s a 2nd generation model, it’s built in North America specifically for the American market. It’s larger than the Japanese model it’s based on. It’s about as Japanese as the Toyota Tundra or Honda Ridgeline.
But anyway, if you have trouble with tight parking spaces, I suggest you learn how to back into parking spaces. I don’t know about you specifically, but most Americans don’t know how to park. I myself had to learn when I moved to Japan and started driving there. If you know how to back into a parking space, you can easily park in a space so narrow that you barely open the door and crawl out.
What am I missing here? If you stick a rectangular object (a car) in a rectangular hole (a parking spot), it doesn’t matter what end you put in first. You’ll net the same amount of clearance no matter what.
No, if *everyone *does that, it’s exactly the same amount of space as if you all parked in the middle. All you’ve done is shifted the whole thing over, while keeping the spacing the same. Physics says no.
I’d be interested to see statistics on car size versus need. I’m guessing the “partly” is a lot smaller than you think.
Having lived in Japan, I can assure you that being made by a Japanese company does not mean that your American-bought vehicle is the same size as a typical Japanese car.
I’d dearly love to see some sort of nuisance fee tacked onto oversized vehicles, unless the owner can prove something like s/he actually NEEDS a huge minivan because s/he’s the band/orchestra leader of the local school and needs to haul kids and their instruments around on a frequent basis. Most land yachts are bought for displaying disposable income, and they inconvenience just about every other vehicle around them that’s not also a land yacht.
Now, there are a lot of people who DO need one, but probably the majority of land yacht owners don’t need one, even here in Texas.