November 29, 2024
I was traveling through a town that I hadn’t been to in a couple of years. They were developing a new business section along the highway, and, as is common with such developments, it was a lot of concrete, varied only by the occasional gravel parking lot. Despite the new signs outside the new buildings, it already looked worn and depressing.
I wondered irritably why towns put up with that. If they’re going to allow new development, they should at least make it have some sort of aesthetic standard. They have to know that ugly sections of town are—well, ugly. They’ve seen enough of them around.
Then I wondered what could you do to spruce up a corridor with a garage, a tire store, a lumber store, and a car dealership. And it came to me:
Put in some landscaping, folks! You don’t have to alternate between concrete parking lots and gravel parking lots, side by side, with no break. Put in some flowers! Add some shrubbery! You may sell tough wares like tires and lumber, but you don’t have to turn the place into a concrete jungle. Make the place enticing for the customers, and make visitors think that your town is charming. Put some effort into it!
This public service announcement is brought to you by somebody who’s tired of looking at ugly stretches of highway in residential areas, and who thinks we can all do better.
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