Hell hath no fury like a parker scorned.
After spending the last 20 years in areas of monitored parking, I can attest to this modified axiom's validity.
Just last month, a woman at a south-side restaurant lost the parking spot she believed was rightfully hers. Suddenly, she began wielding an ice pick reminiscent of Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct" and stabbed her victim six times.
A few years ago, a downtown retail employee received a parking ticket and verbally assaulted two members of the parking services staff by threatening to break their arms.
Even the gentlest of souls who tout the nonviolent protests of Gandhi and King in the classroom have been known to lose all decorum when a $25 ticket appears on the windshield.
Scenes like these, combined with the fresh frustrations of holiday shopping in vast seas of asphalt, are a reminder of the pent-up passions for parking and offer an opportunity for a new approach in 2010.
Free fitness
Millions of people make New Year's resolutions to lose weight. They enroll in classes, order the latest infomercial's workout equipment, and begin trendy diets. And yet they forget the value of a few extra steps in their daily routine.
Free parking areas are available in every quadrant of center city and on the perimeter of each college campus. The few extra minutes it takes to walk from these areas can supplement regularly scheduled workouts, reduce the stress of playing games with parking enforcement officers and eliminate the cost of tickets.
In a time when everyone is closely watching discretionary expenses and seeking increased levels of activity, strategic parking can be one of the little changes that adds up to noticeable results.
Customer convenience
Retail businesses know the importance of preserving convenient parking for customers. Limiting on-street parking downtown to two hours allows those spaces to turn over more frequently so patrons can more easily find a spot during the lunch hour or run in to find a gift.
Long-term parking is available for customers and employees in the College Station and Heer's parking garages in the west end of downtown, the Jordan Valley Health Center parking garage in the east end, and at the First Baptist Church surface parking lot to the south. Commercial Street has several city-owned lots for free extended parking.
Anyone parking less than two hours - such as an employee running into the office for a few minutes between sales calls - can still use the short-term customer lots as long as they leave before the stated limit.
Intentional interaction
In addition to the health benefits, parking a little farther from the final destination allows for more opportunities for interaction with contacts and friends.
The amount of informal networking conversations I have on the sidewalk is substantial. Center city is a close-knit community that frequently finds ways to support one another, no matter the particular line of business.
Parking need not be an anxiety-filled vexation. Resolve to be healthier, happier and more connected to your neighbors by parking in the spaces less filled in 2010.[[In-content Ad]]
Rusty Worley, executive director of Urban Districts Alliance, can be reached at rusty@itsalldowntown.com.
