Our beautiful city becomes uglified anywhere there are huge expanses of parking lots. This is because our tree ordinance does not require trees in the lots and as a result, most developers don't plant them. An industry standard dictates that all parking lots should dedicate 5% of their interior paved area for tree plantings. (This comes out to one tree for every nine parking spaces.) If we rewrite our planting ordinance to require what is a minimum requirement in other cities, our parking lots will become urban forests which cool our parked cars and reduce volatilization of gas in our tanks while we shop. We could give developers a flush curb detail so they can see how to add trees to the lots without impeding snow removal. And this will make our city look nice. So how can businesses advertise with all of that canopy where they want to have signs? Use monument signs instead! It is far easier for customers to find businesses and services in cities where monument signs are consistently used than in places where they must too look everywhere to find the name of a business they seek. Let's adopt a planting ordinance and a sign ordinance that will be easy on the eyes- aesthetically and functionally!