paradise paved

Since I moved back to Chicago from New Hampshire over 10 years ago, I’ve had a change of heart on the subject of parking and its costs to society and the environment. Increasing reliance on private vehicles doesn't just create traffic congestion, road rage, obesity and air pollution. Increasing the availability of parking to accommodate all these vehicles creates more impermeable surfaces, which reduces the earth's ability to absorb rainwater, increasing flooding and sending more pollution (oil from roadways and other pollution) directly into our lakes and rivers instead of letting nature filter much of it out in soil. This Slate article makes a lot of other related points. Your $0.02?