City Observatory has an excellent recent article pointing out the hypocrisy of LEED-certified green buildings that provide excessive multi-story structures for free parking.
But can a parking garage be truly green? Some parking lots, including one at the L.A. Zoo, do their part to cleanse rainwater, removing pollution that drips from the cars that park there. West Hollywood's $18 million high tech robo-garage boasts a smaller footprint and less driving to search for a space, but each of its 200 spaces cost about $90,000.
If the goal is for parking structures to save the planet, though, there has to be another way.
L.A.-based cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz has found the solution. Check out his full La Cucaracha strip this week, excerpted above.