(UPDATED FROM 10/1/2019)
We asked the above question to the most powerful people we know in and around the automobile industry and media. The photograph shows a parking lot in Olympia, Washington, circa 2015. Here are five responses.
Dave Z — Over on the left is a 2016 Toyota 4-Runner and a 2012 Subaru Outback. In the middle is an older Nissan Titan and to the right, way in back is the AMC Pacer used in Wayne’s World. Cool.
D. Barker — There appear to be a total of 15 shopping carts. Those are recent-model (2011-13) Ronka carts. Terrific carts — maneuverable, rugged and stylish. Much improved over the 2007-10 models, which kinda sucked. I should know — I lived in one for a while.
HendrickO — This is a case study in bad land-use planning. There are far too many parking spaces for the typical usage patterns. They could have easily fit a Denny’s and a bowling alley in the excess space. This town sure could use more places to bowl. I prefer to do it alone.
Pat — Hey, that’s my wife’s car. Who’s that guy sitting next to her?
Kunst007 — What a vast sea of soul-deadening emptiness. (Except for the spilled latte; too bad about that.)
What do you see here?
NOTES:
This is an updated version of an article originally posted on Oct. 1, 2019. This story was awarded a “2019 Best Car Culture Story” gold medal from the prestigious Automobile & Yacht Heritage Club of Grosse Pointe.
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I see a parking lot sized to accommodate a level of demand that, in the past, has only happened during a few weeks of the year – generally between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Online shopping has greatly reduced the crowds even over the Christmas holidays.
Online shopping has resulted in the decline of the mall – of the three large malls in the Harrisburg, Pa., region, two are on the retail equivalent of life support. I would not be surprised if they are demolished or completely repurposed within five years.
This will no doubt continue. The demand for parking will be transferred to the mega-warehouse. One large, standalone department store near our home has been torn down, and several smaller businesses have been built in its place. I look for this to continue.
Geeber, suburban western Washington has had a similar experience to the Harrisburg area. Some locals have quite rightly pointed out that we have a massive shortage of affordable housing at the same time that there is a growing number of empty big-box buildings.
My general sense is that local governments have been slow to respond to the implosion of malls. I suspect that is partly because of ownership-related complexities, but also because the “modern” mall has tended to be designed for single use. In other words, the standard mall doesn’t easily lend itself to being retrofitted with residential units. That’s too bad, because dead malls could be turned into walkable “urban villages.”
I have some background in urban planning, so the decline of malls is an interesting topic to me. I haven’t yet written about it at Indie Auto because I have assumed (wrongly?) that few people would actually read the story. What I have found is that content which deviates from histories of specific makes and models tends to be ignored by most Indie Auto readers.
It’s my understanding that a municipality will still collect some property taxes on the mall as long as the building is there, and the owner has not filed for bankruptcy. That can make the local government slow to respond to the decline of a mall.
In the last five-years, there have been articles about the true cost of owning a motor vehicle, especially in urban areas. Part of that cost beyond fuel and maintenance is the cost of utilized real estate for both parking and “storage”. The state of Indiana has politicians in the ruling class who do not see any problems with paving more and more lanes of asphalt to accommodate more and more vehicles with maybe one or two passengers, but the size of current pickup trucks and large SUVs. These same politicians keep adding parking and multi-level garages. But then, they are likely in the pockets of the highway and development lobbies. I wonder what Henry Ford the First would think today.