All good things come to an end, and I knew it was only a matter of time before business owners on my block put a stop to non-customers parking on that property. Unfortunately, that end came while I was away: I returned yesterday to find a new towing sign -- posted last Tuesday -- and my car gone, locked in car jail in the hinterlands with a $429 bail that had mounted over the course of four days.
Maneuvering the parking situation in my 'hood has long been a struggle that continues to get worse; on Friday nights, I'm lucky if I can score a spot five blocks from my apartment building, which does not have places for all of its tenants. I think LoHi might be the only neighborhood in the whole city where the parking police actually monitor how long your car has occupied its curbside, unmetered but two-hour-only real estate -- which means that I've paid an ungodly sum of money to Denver after the minutes slipped away quicker than expected and I didn't move my vehicle on time. Add to that the fines levied because I didn't read the street-cleaning schedule or fine print that bars you from leaving your car in certain spots overnight.
There's nothing I can really do about it, though I contemplated paying my towing fine with a bucket full of change or a stack of obscenely marked bills. It's the property owner's prerogative to save his lot for consumers, and perhaps I can take solace in the fact that my street-parking transgressions are creating jobs and funding programs.
Unless someone builds a parking garage in the neighborhood, I'll probably just give up and move out of LoHi. I'll miss the wealth of restaurants that are within walking distance, but I can't afford to get ticketed and towed over and over. And I don't really want to begrudge people their nights at Lola, Linger, Williams & Graham, Ale House at Amato's, Masterpiece Delicatessen and everything else that's open or on its way. I get it. Those places are good. The promise of good restaurants is why I moved to the neighborhood in the first place.
My advice on finding parking in the area? Don't. Take a cab. Because the pursuit is going to drive you to drink, and then you shouldn't be operating a motor vehicle anyway. But if you have to bring wheels, obey the signs, no matter how meaningless you think they are. And if you're moving to this area of town -- which, despite the crowds, is admittedly wonderful -- make sure parking is part of the deal. Or ditch your car. You've got everything you need right here.
