At the beginning of this month I drove to Boston for the evening. Normally, when I go such distances, I make a day of it and take public transportation part of the way, but due to some tricky scheduling, drove directly to the event. I had my parking validated, so it was less expensive than it would have been. I was not stoked about the cost of parking, but for the sake of convenience, was willing to endure it given the quality of the experience I was having that evening.
My recent trip to Boston was first thing that came to mind after I read the Courant‘s editorial, “Luring Cars Back to Hartford.”
How can they get it so very wrong?
Back to Boston. I had purchased tickets a month in advance for the concert. My favorite band, which had dismantled, but was temporarily back together for a ten year anniversary, was playing two gigs in Boston, where they had been based. Assuming I would not catch them again, or at least not for another ten years, I got the tickets and marked my calendar. As the date approached, I learned that I would only have time to drive directly to the concert. I did some research online and found a parking garage a block or so from the venue. I wrote out the directions, followed them, and had no trouble getting a parking space. Had I waited until being in the city to figure out parking, I would have been lost, driving in circles.
I did not, however, take this trip so that I could park in Boston. This event was one I was going to attend if I had to hitchhike my way there, though that would not be necessary since I had the sense to plan ahead and figure out where to park in advance.
So, when I read this editorial, I wondered if I was just really the odd one out in society:
But it stands to reason that if suburbanites are persuaded there is ample parking – which there is – that is safe and priced right, there will be more cars in city garages, more parking revenue and more people visiting downtown’s banks, professional offices, restaurants, arts, entertainment and sports venues, the Riverfront, Front Street and remaining retail.
Is that reasoning?
In a matter of days, the West Farms–Evergreen Walk–Buckland Hills areas will be transformed into overflow lots due to Black Friday. Anyone who arrives during daylight hours on days when such sales are promoted knows that parking is not always ample, and while it may be free, is not safe. Every year, consumers are reminded to not walk to their vehicles with lots of merchandise, to be alert, and to not allow purchases to be stashed in visible places in cars. At this time of year, people get into fights over parking spaces. There are always stories on the news about someone getting robbed in the mall parking lot. Is that safe and convenient? No. Yet, thousands of people still participate in these rituals. They are not going to the malls or shopping centers for the free parking; they are going because what they want to purchase happens to be there.
At a recent HYPE event, a few participants shared that people go to a place for an event or activity; they do not go there because the parking is cheap. When I go to Northampton, it’s because there are excellent vegetarian restaurants and unique stores in which to shop. If I go to New York City, it’s to browse designer boutiques until the guards escort me away for drooling on merchandise I can not afford. If I go to Philadelphia, it’s to hear presidential candidates speak. There really is no occasion I can think of in which free, cheap, convenient or safe parking inspired me to head to an event I would not have otherwise. After all, I can park my car for free in my driveway.
One Real Hartford reader had this to say about today’s editorial: “What now? Should we be luring foxes into henhouses? Bulls into china shops? Chain smokers into enclosed environments?” The message: everything that is currently awful about downtown right now has been the result of planning for the convenience of the automobile. And we’re going to do more of that? If we need to lure anything to Hartford, it’s people, not cars.
