That's What I'm Talking About

I've mentioned a time or two before that I am a shade seeker during the hot months here, as obvious as that sounds. My kids moan when I start roaming a parking lot looking for the tiniest sliver of shade to park in, and they delight in mocking my attempts to park in the shade of a neighboring Suburban. Well, the AZ Republic has an opinion article today that agrees with me:

Three women, dressed in their Sunday best, were waiting for a ride outside Civic Plaza in downtown Phoenix. All lined up behind a utility pole. They didn't have a choice. With the sun hammering down, the thread of shadow behind the pole was the only protection around. As a picture, it was worth 1,000 words. All the same word: shade, shade, shade, shade, shade. We need a lot more shade in the Valley of the Sun. Awnings. Overhangs. Ramadas. Trees. Trellises. In a series of editorials that recently ran in community sections around greater Phoenix, The Arizona Republic looked at ways to increase shade. The Valley of the Sun deserves its name. Metro Phoenix gets 85 percent of possible sunshine, more than any other major U.S. city except Las Vegas. Shade makes the difference between bearable and scorching.

The article goes on to discuss exactly how egg-frying hot it really gets, and how much difference shade makes, and then posits that we can either build shade or plant shade. It gives some suggestions for both. For building shade, the editorial says:

A park-and-ride lot in Ahwatukee has covered parking for all of its cars. Chandler made a lot of four-legged friends when it installed a shade structure at a bark park near Kyrene Road and Chandler Boulevard. In Mesa, the covered patio at A.J.'s Fine Foods at Baseline Road and Val Vista Drive attracts customers even in the summer. Shade considerations should be part of the checklist for any new project. Well-placed overhangs and designs that consider the angle of the sun, for instance, can add a lot of shade at a small cost. A few places are bringing back the awnings and covered sidewalks that were common here before air conditioning. We need more. Parents should press for shade in places where their kids play or otherwise spend time outside.

And their thoughts about planting include this:

A big, leafy tree is the classic picture of shade. Thanks to the way water transpires through leaves, trees also act like miniature evaporative coolers. Desert-adapted species can provide a relatively large amount of shade for very little water. Check out the inviting bosque of mesquite trees in front of the Phoenix Municipal Courthouse. But we should also be flexible, putting heavier shade trees where there's intense pedestrian use, such as the ficus trees along Mill Avenue in Tempe.

And then comes the key sentence (at least it should be key to my kids):

We should also come to grips with the critical need for shade in parking lots, not just to shade our vehicles but to reduce the buildup of heat.

I think I can safely say that I have come to grips with the critical need for shade in parking lots.

This quest for shade is actually one of the hallmarks of our planning in Morrison Ranch. It is one reason we plant so many trees - along with the desire to be a reminder of our agricultural roots - that will shade the sidewalks and eventually the streets of our residential communities. It's one reason we've asked the home builders to include front porches in their designs for our communities. It's one reason that the sidewalk and overhang are so large at Lakeview Village, along with the row of trees planted in front; even though the shopping center faces the west, which is the toughest situation to shade in Arizona, there is shade in the morning from the overhang, and when the trees grow there will be shade in the afternoon as well. And, most important to all of us parking lot wanderers as gas prices are rising, it's the reason we fill our commercial parking lots with trees. I was stunned to hear that the reason shopping centers don't install trees in the parking lots was because their name signs would be obscured from the road. I assured The Mister that every person I know who shops for groceries would memorize the stores that had some shade in which to park! I guess he passed that on, because I am starting to see more trees that actually shade something in more parking lots, even outside of Morrison Ranch. There are still some that plant Mesquite trees and then chop them to death so that they provide hope but no relief from the sun, but more often I am seeing honest to goodness shade trees. I welcome it, and look forward to the day when this becomes the norm rather than the exception.

One last quote from the Republic editorial:

The drought led Phoenix to suspend its neighborhood tree-planting program for several years. This sends the wrong message. With our critical need for shade, we can't afford not to plant trees.

Amen to that; and I'll add that when you're using reclaimed water, it makes even more sense.