Historical April–May 2004 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Although I have frequently waxed eloquently about the joys of living in Skinker DeBaliviere, I have discovered a topic on which I cannot be joyful – parking.
As we all know, very few of the homes here have driveways.
Some have garages off the alley or parking pads but many do not, or use these areas for other things.
The upshot is most of us park on the street and some families have more than one vehicle to park. Because of physical problems I have and because I sometimes teach in the evening, I know how frustrated I can be if the space outside my home is occupied when I return. It’s especially annoying if I have lots of bags of groceries, etc.
Most of the time it’s not really a problem.
There is nearby space and I use it. Several times, neighbors have helped me with cumbersome items I have purchased, for which I am grateful. But, recently I was asked to vacate a space I had just parked in – on our public street — because someone’s daughter would be coming home soon. Needless to say, I would never have taken the space if another close to home had been available.
The lesson here is that we all need to get a grip, me included. Anyone can park anywhere on a public street.
There are no reserved spaces unless someone has a special city permit for the permanently handicapped.
We all want to park in front of our homes but visitors to the neighborhood come and go and occupy spots.
The only solution is the kind of sticker residents of 57xx Waterman and Pershing got to deter MetroLink riders from parking on their streets for hours. Parking clearly distinguishes us from the suburbs.
There the car often takes precedence over a home or business. Just look at the strip malls. Here, our parking is basically communal and it’s sometimes inconvenient. But, the other payoffs from our type of city living exceed the parking pitfalls (hopefully).
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April–May 2004.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2004_04.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
