THE GREAT BOOK GuRu Parking paranoia?

Dear Great Book Guru, I was at Sea Cliff Beach for breakfast the other day (amazing avocado toast by Foster’s Javier!) when the question of parking came up. Most people would prefer to walk to the beach but that walk back up the hill discourages even the most fit. So many drive, which leaves everyone to search for parking and it can be quite a challenge. Someone mentioned a book which deals with parking and its ramifications. Does this sound familiar?

–Seaside Parker

Dear Seaside Parker, I recently read a quirky, albeit fascinating book by Henry Graber: “Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World.” Graber’s contention is that parking has had a crushing effect on multiple aspects of American life. Since the advent of the car, we have spent precious resources and demolished our homes and cities in a quest for increased car storage. Our most valuable real estate is handed over for largely free car storage, while curbside parking changes businesses, residences and our very image of self. Public transit is sacrificed to the gods of car storage, zoning laws are predicated on it, and public space is curtailed — all so that there are “homes” for cars.

Graber travels across the country from New York City to Los Angeles and every major city in between to show the impact of car parking. He goes so far as to blame the present housing shortage and rise in homelessness to this obsession with parking. His goal is to show us the folly of our present day thinking and to offer us solutions for this perceived madness. Recommended!

Would you like to ask the Great Book Guru for a book suggestion? Contact her at annmdipietro@gmail.com.

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