So what if they pave paradise and put in a parking lot?
By adamg - 2/8/07 - 7:22 pm
Lyss doesn't get the fuss over Boston residents who pave over their front yards to make room for cars:
... I can understand this being an issue in historic districts. However, if you own a house and want to park a car or two in what is, essentially, your yard (insert redneck joke here), you should be able to. Doesn't parking increase the resale value of a house? ...
Comments
actually
Don't rednecks tend to park their cars on their lawns and leave their driveways empty? At least that's what I've observed.
Heck, come to Mefuh
Around these parts, they pave the front and side yards and STILL park cars on the #%#$%^$&^* sidewalk because they can't be bothered to move their car out in the morning.
MEFFA has two D's...
MEFFA has two D's much like double-driveway or your last report card.
My bra does too!
Call city hall and tell me what they say when they pick up. My Oregonian ears can't tell if it's "meffidsy hah" or "mefface-ee haul".
Yeah, until it rains and the
Yeah, until it rains and the water runs off your neighbor's cemented over back yard or illegal driveway into your foundation or through your planters and terraces in your backyard, washing them out and ruining them. And did I mention the displaced rats because your neighbors used to keep a lot of trash in their backyard and the rats can't get into their holes? But hey, at least they have their parking, right?
I love how the article calls paved space...
...of a single family property a "parking lot". In my neighborhhod (and throughout most of the United States) they are called "Driveways".
The Paradise is closing?
For a half a second I thought you were posting more on this 18+ night issue - and the Paradise was gonna go under! Not likely, but you had me for a second with that headline.
good reasons to keep parking from being added.
The zoning is there for a reason. Paving over yards is a rainwater disaster - it sends water down stormdrains and into the treatment facilities (and into your basement), rather than back into the water table where it belongs.
Adding blacktop also traps heat in the city during the summer, leaving whole neighborhoods degrees hotter than they would otherwise be with grasses and trees.
And no, adding parking doesn't necessarily add to property value. Pave over all the green space and a neighborhood is bound to lose property value. What may be good for one house is in aggregate a negative for the neighborhood.
Why not use gravel? Won't
Why not use gravel? Won't the rain water just seep through?
better, but still not great
Gravel does allow the water to get to the water table, but it's still not the same as grass, shrubs, trees -- roots retain some of the water and help slow the flow of water through the system. In a thunderstorm, water tables can get overwhelmed with a deluge. What you want is a system that allows some water through and holds some too. Gravel and pavement won't do this.