20225-06-05: Updated with a photo, at bottom.

The state Department of General Services is repaving a parking lot across the street from me, the northwest corner of P Street and 13th Street. Was there anything wrong with this parking lot? Were there potholes? Was there pavement deterioration? No, no, no. Apparently the state has unlimited tax dollars to burn on unnecessary projects. Even if there were problems, the parking lot could have been overlaid. But instead it is being stripped, and will be replaced by entirely new pavement.

This is not the first time the state has done unnecessary work on parking lots. Last yet the state repaved the parking lot at the southwest corner of O Street and 12th Street. The state re-did a parking lot on the southeast corner of P Street and 11th Street. And even installed wiring and posts for vehicle charging, which was never finished. These are the ones I’ve noticed, but there are likely more. If you have noticed others, please comment here so that they are documented.

The state is facing a $12B deficit for next fiscal year (starting July 1, 2025). Repaving parking lots is pocket change in comparison. But it is a clear indication that the state does not care about saving money, and thinks there is no limit to reaching into your pocket for your pocket change to fuel unnecessary projects.

The most egregious part of this project is that the state is wholly committing itself to maintaining these parcels as parking lots. Surface parking lots are a crime against nature, a crime against rational transportation policy, a crime against climate (they are urban heat islands unto themselves), and a crime against livability. These state-owned parking lots should be converted to housing. The state and the city were complicit in erasing housing throughout the downtown area, in order to clear the city of ‘those people’ and give the state seemingly free land on which to build state offices. The state pays no property tax on these parcels, so it has no motivation to make more productive use of them. It is time to change that. I’d like to see legislation that would force the state to either transfer these surface parking lots to the city, or to CADA (Capitol Area Development Agency) which is a city-state partnership, or to pay property taxes, not just on the low-value parking lots, but on the buildings which were there before the state and city erased them.

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2025-06-05: Today, most of the parking lot was paved with asphalt. As you can see in the photo below, it is black, black. So a light grey aged asphalt, somewhat reflective, was replaced with black, non-reflective asphalt. Could the state have used lighter asphalt? Sure. Could they have paid attention to cool pavement practices (US EPA: Using Cool Pavements to Reduce Heat Islands) used in other places? Sure. But they did not. Walking by on the sidewalk on P Street, the part that was paved this morning, and has cooled from installation temperatures, you can feel the heat waves rising off. This will be a great heat island addition for the city!