Parking and Recreation

So last weekend I was in my old neck of the woods, the sandy beaches of Broadripple. It’s not often I venture out to the bar scene there these days. Back when I was a resident I knew a good drink special for one of the bars every night of the week. Oh how we grow up so quickly. (Marion just lacks a good drink special variety, really keystone ligh?t B-dubs, how dare you) So these days a trip to the Ripp is always appreciated. Now a new restaurant had recently moved in to the plaza where everyone would park when going out, I guess at this time they also bought the property that the plaza parking lot is on. Now they charge five bucks to park there. Also, you can not leave your car overnight… (And here comes the rant)

Now I have been parking in that section for almost two or three years now. Granted that’s not a lot of time, but living in that area you get pretty acclimated to your customs. Park in lot, go to bar, drink in excess (not me, just saying generalities… right?) stumble out of bar, cab or barter for a way home. Pick car up next day. Deal with shame. Now the extra step of paying some ass clown five bucks is involved. Yes, it seems a bit silly a 27 year old adult is going to bitch about the price of five dollars, I guess it just “grinds my gears” that new guy comes in to the area and says “hey we are gonna start charging you guys to park, and nothing you can do about it, by the way come to our restaurant”.

I guess what really bothers me is the business planning on this. The Broadripple area essentially serves the Butler students and college graduates who have not grown up. Hence why I loved living there back then. Granted Butler students have a bit more money then most of us did in college. I doubt many of them are selling bodily fluids for beer money. At least out of necessity, a lot of artistic types go there. If I had to pay 5 bucks in college to park, then pay a cover amount as well for the bars, I would have been drinking elsewhere. Before you get in the door you are out 10 bucks, I remember only having 8 to my name and still venturing out for 15 cent beers. The average college student is going to waste half their fundage on parking and cover. This has a possibility to affect the entire area. The kids start going to a different area to drink, the bars start losing money, the whole system collapses. Maybe I am being a tad dramatic, but Blockbuster probably thought ordering DVD’s online wouldn’t catch on either.

What really gets me is you can not leave you car overnight. Really? You pay 5 bucks and you can’t leave your car either. Let me get this straight. You park your car, go to the bars for hours and the biggest binge drinking state of your life, crawl back to the parking lot, and drive on out of there so you don’t get towed. Let’s be honest for all good intentions a good PR guy could spin that to be, “We don’t encourage heavy drinking, we are hoping knowing patrons must remove their vehicles they won’t consume as much”. That’s like giving North Korea nukes so they don’t feel left out and throw rocks at us. (Does that analogy even make sense? Not really but anything pertaining to Kim Jong-il rarely does. Double Rainbow!) Really this just puts kids in a position that they will still get hammered and attempt to drive. Or “not get as drunk” the key phrase being “as drunk” still all fucked up, but not as bad as usual. Forcing people to drive leaving a bar and not really giving an option to take a cab anymore, these guys should get shut down tomorrow. It’s ridiculous. Maybe it was just this particular night, regardless, a pretty bad call.

In short I told myself I would attempt at writing a bit more this year, and I was feeling passionate about that this weekend. After a few Jack and Cokes unbelievably passionate. (Those parking attendants sure can take a punch!) I was just a bit outraged at a major change to an area I once called home. Maybe I am nostalgic, maybe I was upset they are putting lives endanger, maybe I’m just cheap. Either way I didn’t care for it. From now on I am just gonna drink in P.F. Chang’s when I go to Indy. (great mojitos)