Surface Parking Lots - The Image of Urban Blight

Serendipity to get these two links together in my Google Reader feed:

http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2012/12/boerum-hill-parking-lot-sells-for-big-bucks/

http://streetsblog.net/2012/12/10/want-to-end-the-scourge-of-surface-parking-tax-land-not-buildings/

It's smart development policy to revise our property tax calculations - at least in an urban environment where development is a desirable good. 

Cheap land taxes mean that a speculator can park (pun intended) a desirable property for decades gambling on a big payday, to the detriment of the surrounding community.  It doesn't have to be that way. 

Typos courtesy of my iPhone