This might sound like a pet peeve by now — I have previously registered this complaint in my columns and essays — but calling it that tends to demean it as a genuine issue that should be confronted in the 21st Century. With the decline of brick-and-mortar retail, the owners of vast, empty parking lots should be required by law to convert at least parts of them to parkland with trees.
The owners of commercial properties tend to hold onto them forevermore; you see that everywhere, from older city neighborhoods with boarded-up storefronts to aging shopping malls with empty drugstores and other retail spaces.
While there is always the possibility that something new and potentially profitable will come along, is it realistic to expect the nation’s parking lots to again be filled to capacity, even on Black Friday? Major national retail and restaurant chains have announced plans to shutter more locations this year, following several years when thousands of small and large businesses closed.
In the meantime, these asphalt deserts sit, heating up under the sun, washing massive amounts of filthy stormwater into nearby creeks and streams — basically contributing nothing good to their communities.
Since local government controls zoning, it would seem prudent for laws to reflect the changes that have occurred in modern life: Fewer shoppers, less need for parking spaces, a greater threat to the environment from climate change, extreme weather and the flooding that comes with it.
Why not time-limit the void? Give the owners of these asphalt deserts a certain amount of time to justify the need for every parking acre. If they can’t show that they will be used, then require them to convert the comparable amount of space to parkland with trees. In Maryland, the state’s Forest Conservation Act could probably be amended in some way to make this possible. Or local governments could tackle the problem, as suggested, with changes to zoning laws. This is not a pet peeve. It’s a real issue that needs to be confronted.
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Dan Rodricks 
Dan, this environmentally thoughtful article further confirms to me your status as Renaissance Man-Journalist.
Never a raging crank, you magnanimously cover the arts, fine foods (while dreamily sharing your or your mother’s methods or recipes), fishing, politics, the environment, and everything, really. Your kindness and decency discreetly comes through. No bragging, chest thumping, or snark. What a relief and national treasure you are.
And, for folks that are unaware, you are a multi-talented speaker and singer, and seeing your performances on stage always leaves me flabbergasted at your abundant innate talent.
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Another use for them, in fact for all parking lots used or unused would be to cover them with solar panels. The rest of the world seems to be doing this, but here it is only the Ikea parking lots.
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