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

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:

Next!

Newport News, Virginia

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:

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