We often hear people lament about "the parking situation" downtown. It's beginning to drive us a little crazy - the lamenting, not the parking.
We admit finding parking on the street can be a hassle. It is in most cities. This is not unique to the Hat City.
If you're lucky enough to find a spot on the street, then you have to worry about finding quarters to use in the meters. Right? Actually, no. You just need a little planning. Most meters along Main Street in Danbury take Park Smart Cards. It's a prepaid debit card for parking meters. Boom - no fumbling for change or worrying about putting in enough time. With the card just charge up the meter to the 2 hour max. If you get back to your car before the two hours are up, it'll refund your card for the remaining time. I can't tell you how often that's come in handy for us.
Plus, there are two parking garages. There's the Patriot Garage, which most people know about right off the Danbury Green, but there's also the Bardo Garage on Library Place. Yes, you might have to walk a bit to get to your destination, but really in most cities that's kind of the norm. In NYC I know I'm thankful to only be a few blocks away from where I need to go. I know Danbury isn't NYC, but still, in most larger downtown areas you don't always park on top of your final destination.
Now for us, as downtown business owners, we have a parking garage pass. For $45 a month we park our car in the Bardo Garage nearly every day. If you only include weekdays that comes out to about $2 a day. It'll sound funny, but we've gotten so used to parking in the garage and walking to our office every day, that sometimes we wish our walk was a little longer.
Even without a garage pass, parking at the Bardo garage all day is still under $10. We've spent nearly that much for parking in just a few hours in other cities.
The best part about parking in the garage - we know our car is protected from the elements. When it snows, there's no coming out of work after a long day and having to clean off the car. Just hop in and go. Now that's pretty sweet. Plus, since the parking authority officers do regular rounds, it's less likely that something will happen to our car due to the human element. Not to mention that the garages are clean and well-lit.
Encouraging businesses and events that will draw people to downtown is the hard part. It's not the parking.
For more info on how to get a Park Smart Card or about everything parking in Danbury, check out the Danbury Parking Authority website. Better yet, stop in to the their office in the Patriot Garage.
Labels: danbury, downtown
