Some lots are more annoying than others, when I lived in Denver and had my 2000 tundra I'd never be parking at the trader joes or similar, was just the cost of doing business.
I think a lot of it is that none of this stuff was designed around everyone driving around much larger vehicles. In addition to every car getting larger (the current Tundra is massive compared to my 2000, my current outback is massive compared to my 98) I remember 20-30 years ago sedans being the go-to for most anyone that didn't need a truck, with trucks being more of a working vehicle (there were exceptions of course). Now the company IT guy drives an F350 that has never seen anything more than golf clubs in the bed, my dentist has a lifted suburban, etc., and a lot of the city or old construction infrastructure has not been updated to accommodate that change. Crummy parking options was always just kinda "cost of doing business" when I had a truck/we had to use one of the farm trucks, and that was selling point for the tiny Japanese trucks like the 80s Nissan we had forever.
I think a lot of it is that none of this stuff was designed around everyone driving around much larger vehicles. In addition to every car getting larger (the current Tundra is massive compared to my 2000, my current outback is massive compared to my 98) I remember 20-30 years ago sedans being the go-to for most anyone that didn't need a truck, with trucks being more of a working vehicle (there were exceptions of course). Now the company IT guy drives an F350 that has never seen anything more than golf clubs in the bed, my dentist has a lifted suburban, etc., and a lot of the city or old construction infrastructure has not been updated to accommodate that change. Crummy parking options was always just kinda "cost of doing business" when I had a truck/we had to use one of the farm trucks, and that was selling point for the tiny Japanese trucks like the 80s Nissan we had forever.
and decided that it would be a great opportunity to make some money by tearing down the old building, and building a new modern glass multistory building with a multistory parking garage too. This was the first time I've had to grace the doors of the new place. When I entered the eight story parking garage, of which only 2 stories were in use at this point, I drove around and around for 25 minutes trying to find an empty spot. NO spots were open, including the handicapped spots. When I finally found someone pulling out, I slowly pulled into the space. When I left myself enough room to open the driver's door, I was much closer than I liked to the vehicle on the passenger side, but I was within the parking lines. All I could do was hope that I got finished with my business before they did. As I got out of my truck and walked towards the rear, I noticed that it was sticking out into "traffic". I walked to the front of my truck and saw that I was about 2 inches from the concrete wall of the building so I couldn't pull forward any more! ALL the spaces appeared to be designed for compact cars! Luckily, I did finish my business before the person parked on my passenger side.
But the city will soon have a ton of money in it's coffers from the sale of the acreage generated by tearing down the old building and tearing up the old huge parking lot. I know they will use it wisely……NOT!
