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Parking Madness 2015: Los Angeles vs. Newport News

Another day, another pair of absolutely terrible urban landscapes. Here's the second match-up in the Parking Madness 2015 tournament, following yesterday's drubbing of Mobile by Camden.

Today's competition pits a giant metropolis against a small city on the Mid-Atlantic coast: Los Angeles vs. Newport News, Virginia.  

Los Angeles

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This entry comes to us via an anonymous commenter, who says, "L.A.'s downtown crater is gradually being filled in, but the massive parking lot at North Hollywood station should be a contender."

Joe Linton at Streetsblog Los Angeles adds more context, saying that this particular crater is actually being enlarged:

  • The lot is at the north (most suburban) end of L.A.'s Red Line heavy rail subway. It's where the Red Line connects with the Orange Line BRT.
  • There are roughly a thousand parking spots, half free. (425 paid permit spots, 451 free, 25 handicap, 8 staff)
  • It's located in North Hollywood "NoHo" - a walkably artsy center in the largely suburban San Fernando Valley.
  • Media reports that the lot is "full by 7am" - but it isn't - only the half that's free.
  • L.A. Metro is spending $1.4M to add 200 parking spaces

Wow. Los Angeles. Disappointing. Here's the bird's-eye view:

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Next!

Newport News, Virginia

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This entry was submitted by Sam Sink, who says:

This is beautiful downtown Newport News, Virginia. The sea of surface parking belongs to the shipyard and creates a dead zone of about 20 city blocks separating the rest of downtown from a residential area to the North (and the CSX tracks cut the area off from the neighborhood to the east). I weep for any pedestrian that has to hoof it through this asphalt wasteland.

A slightly different view:

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It's up to you to decide which crater deserves to advance to the second round.

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