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Implicitly, the author assumes that a car would be the last thing this hypothetical poor person would purchase.

There are in fact, many impoverished homeless people who live in cars. In this case, they might find themselves parking in one of those abundant spaces.

I wonder when the last time she walked by a walmart was.

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The irony in this post is tremendous. The whole reason so many poor people in the US still own cars is precisely because of these kinds of pro-car regulations! In western Europe, a poor person owning a car is much less common, because transit works well enough that they don't really need it, and driving is an expensive activity.

That's how these kinds of regulations frequently get ratcheted up.

A: "It's nice to have lots of parking available everywhere! Let's make it mandatory."

B:"But now everything is far apart, and I need a car to do anything."

A:"Hm, good point. Well, then we will make sure there's even more parking than anybody ever needs, so it doesn't cost you anything to park anywhere."

B:"What about letting the market decide?"

A:"The market? Why do you hate the poor?!"

It's a catch-22, because they have to buy the car to get anywhere, and now that they have the car they can't afford to live anywhere, and because everyone else owns a car nobody will build places that don't require a car.

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