Jon Dell over at KHTS has a great article examining some of the worst parking lots (and the developer & planner stupidity behind them) in Santa Clarita:
So here it is, the worst of the worst. We’ve compiled our ratings using the following criteria:
• Overall congestion
• Ease of entrance/departure
• Parking availability/parking spot sizes
• Frequent use by jerk drivers
8. Vincenzo’s Newhall shopping Center off Lyons Avenue
This shopping center is so much lower than Lyons Avenue it’s practically underground. Now, parking is available in scores, however this shopping center is nearly impossible to get into if making a left from Lyons Avenue, because the I-5 exit dumps a steady stream of cars right past the entrance.
7. Long, thin shopping center on Soledad Canyon Road at Bouquet
This center has been around for a million years in Santa Clarita. Back in the days of the horse and buggy, I’m sure you could get in and out. In today’s world, it’s absolutely impossible. They’ve got great shops in there, like Philly’s Best and Wing Stop. I would love to eat there. But unless I’m coming from Canyon Country and on my way to Saugus, I can’t bring myself to attempt the challenge. Too much traffic to make a left from the center to travel east on Soledad. During rush hour, westbound traffic backs up past the center, which means anyone looking to get in might as well learn to fly.
You can read the entire list here.
I agree with many of the selections on his list. The Vincenzo’s center parking lot (as well as the Wendy’s across the street) are for all practical purposes inaccessible if you are traveling west bound on Lyons (or if you have to resume travel westbound on Lyons into Stevenson Ranch). And the shopping center on Soledad & Boqueut (I think he’s talking about the one on the south east corner) could send even a Zen master into a blind fit of steering-wheel pounding rage.
As he says, his main focus is on driver ingress/egress, and thus, his conclusions only apply to drivers (indeed, he actually complains about pedestrians at the Target parking lot). But most of us are pedestrians at some point in our days, so what happens when we look at SCV parking lots from a pedestrian point of view?
Dell claims that the WalMart/Valencia Marketplace parking lot on the Old Road is one of the best in town because it allows “easy in, easy out.” But have you ever had to park at the back of that veritable ocean-sized parking lot? You are then faced with the daunting challenge of walking behind hundreds of cars for up to a 1/10th of a mile before getting to your destination store.
If there’s anything I’m OCD about, it is this. I hate walking behind parked cars in gigantic lots. I find myself paranoid, constantly looking to see if there are drivers in the cars who are about to back out. Constantly looking over my shoulder when I walk across an open parking space, worried that some maniac will run me over as he tries to score a close parking spot. I hate the smell of car exhaust, and I worry when I see children darting in and out of parking lanes. I hate being stuck in a huge lot with nowhere to go in case of emergency (such as what happened to Tim Myers’ Nebraska Bride last weekend).
It’s hazardous, and it’s one reason I think the Valencia Marketplace parking lot is one of the worst in town. I can deal with the stress of finding a parking space, of waiting through 5 light cycles to exit Best Buy, just don’t ask me to walk behind hundreds of cars when I exit the safety of my 3,000 lb vehicle!
Some developers have tried to address that problem locally, however, and I appreciate them for it. The Whole Foods parking lot, for instance, features a sidewalk in between one row of cars that completely eliminates driver/pedestrian interaction. The new parking lot in front of the Bridgeport Marketplace features these walkways as well (though they could use more of them). I wish Santa Clarita would mandate such walkways for all future big developments.
But, stepping back, isn’t it sad that we’re complaining about parking lots at all? Really, the solution to this mess isn’t to build better or smarter parking lots, it’s to eliminate the reason for the parking lot altogether. “Oh boy,” you say, “another one of Jeff’s rants about high density and alternate forms of transportation.” You bet! That’s the solution. I’ve often said one of the best things about bicycling is that you don’t have to park, and one of the worst things about driving is parking. Whenever I can, I try to avoid driving to a crowded shopping center, preferring instead to ride my bike, take the bus, or simply walk.
All these forms of transportation are cheap, healthy, and avoid the stress and danger of parking lots altogether.
Subaru also has some design cues that set it off as something different – an alternative from the sea of sameness that sometimes defines the cliches on wheels. Beyond being considered 
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