Rant-Reserved Parking for Fuel Efficient/Hybrid Vehicles

So, the wifey and I are out for some casual Xmas shopping and stop at a favorite Mexican restaurant for a bite. We notice some empty parking spaces near the door...of which I knew were the usual two reserved for Handicap parking. But, from the edge of the parking lot, I could see there were more than that...so, I head for them. Get closer and come to find out, notice they added two more reserved spots...for Fuel Efficient/hybrid vehicles. Say what?!! Having not seen these signs anywhere else before, I just had to inquire within as to WTF precipitated this? Restaurant Host gave a sheepish grin and said it was to help certify the building as LEEDS compliant. All I could say was "here we go...now our buildings have to be politically correct as well?". It's one thing to design buildings to be energy efficient and, I suppose, environmentally friendly (whatever that entails)...but, this is an over-reach bordering on discrimination IMO. Thoughts?

My wife is LEED certified and all the stuff they have to go thru to get this certification is stupid. My thing is the only cars that should get these spaces are full electric vehicles and their should be a charging station there. It's not so much PC as it is earthy touchy feely stuff. And in my opinion the electric/hybird cars while not now are polluters, they will be worst offenders once those batteries have to be discarded.

Who are they to determine what is fuel efficient? I would have parked there. Tell them "car runs on burritos I'm filling up!" Jackasses!

Just add a Hybrid emblem to your car. Tell them your car runs on 10% Ethonal.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3D-HYBRID-Blue-Fender-Chrome-Emblem-Badge-Decal-For-Toyota-Honda-Lexus-Prius-/131326620313?fits=Make%3ATesla&hash=item1e93ad3299:g:9KsAAOSwDNdVg8on&vxp=mtr

My Chevelle is more "environmentally friendly" than a Model A

Steve -- I'm with you, let's reserve spaces for people not their car, and if we are setting aside EV car spaces let's have a purpose for them (like charging) not showing political correctness.

Here in Copenhagen, the only free parking spots you find in the Inner part of town is reserved for hybrid/ Electric cars. There is some 150-200 parking spots reserved for cars of that Nature all over town. Everybody Else can Cruise around for hours trying to find a free spot. Funny thing is there is not alot of Electric cars around, so alot of the parking spots sits empty. While others burn a lot of fuel trying to find a spot.

I have worked as a carpenter, and alot of our customers are Living in Copenhagen. It Was a Dayli nightmare trying to find a place for my work truck. On top of that most of the regular parking spots in town are time limited to 2-3 hours. So you need to go move your truck in the middle of a job, and Cruise around and find another spot close enough so you dont need to walk 5 miles for a tool.

And just to really piss on people they charge 3-4 dollars an hour when you do find a parking spot thats free.
And when you get the bright idea to take the train from the suburbs to Down town, you find that parking close to the trainstation is almost just as expensive, and yes time limited. So you must move your car every 3 hours. Hard to do when you are at work for 8-9 hours 20 miles away. And on top of that you get to pay 3 dollars an hour just to park and take the train to town.

I guess stupid and urealistic politicians is a global thing. It seams they dont live in the same World as the rest of us sorry bastards. Now they are considering roadpricing the Way in to the City to make people use public transport. Problem is it dont work and is really unreliable. So alot of buisnesses is moving out of Inner City. Because they have a hard time finding people that are willing to either sit in a traffic jam and fight for parking. Or wait for train or bus thats always late. And on top spend alot of a days pay to just get to and from work. So it is not only the US that has problems, Europe has Their share.

Really Steve?! We now have, here in Minnesota, places for the tree hugging folk to park their little sh$t boxes? It's not because I don't think we need to do things to clean up the environment, but rather it's those people that look at me and give me a crusty look when I drive my Chevelle or my wife's Trailblazer. I'm not conforming to their way of saving the planet. IF they knew that my Chevelle can knock down close to 18mph and the wife's Trailblazer can do the same. Not the 30+mph they get, but still not all that bad for big "gas hogs" either.
As Damon said, if they only knew just how bad their little pieces of crap are on the planet when it comes time to get rid of it. I work for one of the largest auto recyclers in the world and I can tell you that we have tons, and I do honestly means tons, of these batteries sitting in containers because no one can figure out how to recycle some of the metals in them yet. As for charging stations, I present this thought for you....unless you can say that you get your electricity from solar, wind, or hydro, where the hell are you getting it from? You're getting it from a coal burning or nuclear pow plant. Yep, those don't pollute. DUH!!!! It just pisses me off.

Okay, now you know where I stand on these enviromently friendly gas sipping little sh$t boxes.

I'll get off my soap box and let someone else chime in.

Jeff

We were seated next to the window looking out the front window and for the hour we were there I watched one SUV/pickup/crossover after another approach the parking spaces and back off to find one elsewhere. So, they sat empty the entire time. Here in the 'burbs, nobody buys those little s*#t-boxes. Kind of comical...despite environmentalists and gov't pushing their agenda for electric and hybrid vehicles, people simply want large, roomy vehicles.

You know you owned a p.o.s. when even the recyclers do this:

Who would give you cap for just parking there and saying screw it? Cop can't give you a ticket for that.

I agree Jeff. Most of those econo boxes will be filling landfills and scrap yards by bigger numbers because they are throw away cars. The cost to fix the emissions systems, hybird systems and so on will exceed the value of the car so they'll end up junked. Then think about those prius's and leaf's. One can buy a leaf right now for under 10k but what if that battery pack goes bad? Are any of these want the newest, brightest shinest thing and have to have it now hipster millenials going to fix it?

Something tells me I'd better not type too much about this. Suffice it to note ... I definitely think this is borderline ... if not full-fledged ... discriminatory. Good grief.


Cort, www.oldcarsstronghearts.com
pig&cowValves.paceMaker * 1979 CC to 2003 MGM + 81mc
"You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile" | Thurl Ravenscroft | 'You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch'

Dosen't it just want to make ya do a nice long smokey burn out in that spot? I do have to admit I kinda like the Teslas. The top dog Tesla will smoke a hellcat. All electric. That's impressive.

My brother rode in a top line Tesla ,killer fast!