The Diane Rehm show recently dedicated an hour to parking garages, and it was fascinating. See (and listen): The Parking Garage
Grist.org poses this obvious question: Tell me again why we mandate parking at bars?
And the NYT covers what current parking lots are good for: The Parking Lot as ‘Solar Grove’
I made a related post in 2008 about parking standards in an urban environment.
All this news makes me think the new Old Town parking deck is going to do a lot of things right in that it will be LEED certified, have a green roof, include solar chargers for future EV's, and it is designed with an Old Town aesthetic.
