Having grown up in a small town I never really gave much thought to how we park along the streets and the number of parking lots which are scattered around even the smallest of towns to hide the daily parking needs of businesses and employees because I am used to them...to me, parking decks are strange.
This image shows the only visible parking lot on the main drag though my hometown, with the exception of a new government building which was built a few years ago. The parking lot is a private space which businesses or individuals rent out by the week and month. Historically, I am told, this parking lot was a service station which was closed in the late 1970s and the land was vacant for a number of years and used as ad hoc parking for people who did not want to pay to use metered spaces on the street. The owner eventually decided that he could make money off his land by renting it for parking. The sign is unnecessary and slightly ridiculous as each space also has a sign marked private
This is Broad Street, the main drag. It has angled parking for about four blocks and largely constitutes the historic downtown district. This is the norm for public parking in the downtown area. The parking meters were removed in the early 1990s as they were of little real value in a downtown district which is four linear blocks. Parking is generally available most times of the day with the exception of the early evening when the restaurants are crowded with patrons. Signs are posted giving a two hour time limit on the spaces, but that is largely ignored--I have not known anyone to get a ticket for such an offense.
Most of the parking in the downtown area is hidden from the main drag and located to the rear of the buildings on corners. This is one such parking lot. Some stores have rear entrances for customers such as the red building, but most do not. Several of the buildings located on hills actually rent their basements out as stores and these serve as the only parking for such facilities. There are four or five such lots which are tiny and can only hold handful of cars. Because Broad Street is a state highway and the busiest road in town all deliveries for stores are made through rear alleys and streets, which are often blocked by semi-trailers and box trucks. While parking is sometimes an issue with lots like this one, it is largely the price paid to avoid the construction of unsightly parking decks or the demolition of historic buildings to create new municipal parking lots. The city administrators made the decision to maintain the quaint nature of the downtown and to sell that image to the public. For the most part, there have been no complaints.
This is Broad Street, the main drag. It has angled parking for about four blocks and largely constitutes the historic downtown district. This is the norm for public parking in the downtown area. The parking meters were removed in the early 1990s as they were of little real value in a downtown district which is four linear blocks. Parking is generally available most times of the day with the exception of the early evening when the restaurants are crowded with patrons. Signs are posted giving a two hour time limit on the spaces, but that is largely ignored--I have not known anyone to get a ticket for such an offense.
Most of the parking in the downtown area is hidden from the main drag and located to the rear of the buildings on corners. This is one such parking lot. Some stores have rear entrances for customers such as the red building, but most do not. Several of the buildings located on hills actually rent their basements out as stores and these serve as the only parking for such facilities. There are four or five such lots which are tiny and can only hold handful of cars. Because Broad Street is a state highway and the busiest road in town all deliveries for stores are made through rear alleys and streets, which are often blocked by semi-trailers and box trucks. While parking is sometimes an issue with lots like this one, it is largely the price paid to avoid the construction of unsightly parking decks or the demolition of historic buildings to create new municipal parking lots. The city administrators made the decision to maintain the quaint nature of the downtown and to sell that image to the public. For the most part, there have been no complaints.
1 comment:
Great photos. I'm curious about how people use the downtown vs. places on the strip, population etc.--other information that would help me understand how a place can remain so vibrant with only limited surface parking, why the meters didn't make sense.
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