Valley Towing and Virginia Tech Parking Services, in either order, may be the two most hated entities in Blacksburg. Freshmen learn quickly to fear the sight of a rectangular orange folder on the windshield of their cars, and upperclassmen begin to question their memories when they return to their sweet parking spaces, only to find someone else’s car in their spot.
The ubiquitous Valley Towing feeds off of student mistakes, but it is empowered by contracts with property owners to remove illegally parked cars. Companies solicit Valley Towing’s services and set the hours when they want them patrol their lots.
Towing contracts are a necessary evil — property owners are entitled to using their property, and without companies like Valley Towing, that property would be gobbled up by drivers who don’t pay for it.
The problem is, parking is still scarce. The safest way to a Chipotle burrito requires customers to have one person wait with the car and keep an eye out for tow trucks, while the others run inside to get food. There is something wrong here.
On a Sunday night, business owners are unlikely to be parked on their premises, yet drivers are still turned away by threats of towing. Wouldn’t it make sense if those spots were available when property owners aren’t using them? It would certainly be good for downtown businesses — not having to walk three blocks to get to The Cellar would definitely encourage customers to pump up the local economy by dining out more often.
Of course, as much as drivers would like it, business owners aren’t going to give up spots out of the kindness of their hearts. Fair enough. What if more metered spots were added to the prime downtown parking spots, with the revenues going to the businesses that own them? Businesses could easily specify the hours that the spaces are available for public use and retain their exclusive-use rights during all other hours. The new meters could even be subsidized by the town, which would take in more tax revenue thanks to the increase in commerce.
Since business owners set the public hours themselves, and meters control the amount of time a driver can use a space, everyone should be better off. All businesses need to do is determine the hours they don’t need the spots they own. The Blacksburg Town Council would be wise to push this type of change to downtown business owners in the future.
-the editorial board is composed of scott masellli and sean simons
A version of this article appeared in the Oct 6 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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Not a bad idea.
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Yup. Sounds legit.
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After being here for 5 years, and dealing with the parking issues, I've concluded that there is just too many cars than space can hold in a small town. The quickest solution would be to build another parking garage somewhere downtown. Kent square is there but it's too small and the recently doubled their prices too. I don't go downtown often anymore since then because there's no where else to park.
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Hey, here we go! A CT article that identifies a problem and offers a viable, innovative solution. Well done, sirs.
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It's called PRIVATE property. Just because you want to drive your car somewhere and park it doesn't mean they have to let you use the space they own. A real solution to the parking problem? Walk to get your Chipotle burrito.
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Who would ticket folks who failed to pay these private property meters? Police? So now my tax dollars are going to subsidize private property, for-profit parking meters? Seriously?
You can ride the bus, park in the parking garage (where you will covered, secured parking for cheap), or in any of the hundreds of spots downtown. If parking is too tight, take the bus or ride Hoopty Ride. Illegally parking in front of Chipotle is not "the safest way" to get a burrito. It's the dumbest way. Besides, if you're willing to pay $8 for a reheated taco, you ought to be able to handle $1 to park in the garage. Not convenient enough for Chipotle? Maybe they should have thought about that before they located there.
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Maybe the garage is full, people don't have 30 to 40 minutes of time or patience to walk a few miles and maybe people don't want to shell out $10 dollars rip off for Hoopty Ride to take them a mile or two.
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It if takes you 30-40 minutes to walk from the parking garage to Chipotle, maybe you need to lay off the Chipotle.
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OK, fair enough. How about that meter money is split between the town and the property owner? win-win.
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Haha funny, I said a few miles meaning why should you have to walk from where you live?
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There's still time. Leave.
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You shouldn't be worried about getting towed from a metered spot. They only ticket those spots (except maybe if you're there for days). Also, there is a fair amount of parking available downtown on a Sunday night when meters aren't enforced. Besides parking lots, there is a lot of street parking near downtown.
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In the 11 years I've lived in the area, including time for undergraduate and graduate work, I've only once gotten a parking ticket (wrong information supplied by a parking official, it was tossed immediately), and never had my cars get towed, except for when they've broken down.
The big secret? I don't park illegally. It's really that simple. People like to bemoan the towing companies or parking services, but they're doing the job they're supposed to do. The people who get ticketed or towed are ignoring the regulations. Having lived in a few different off-campus complexes, in addition to on-campus, and non-Blacksburg locations, the illegal parking was a major headache at a few places I lived...not being able to find a parking space while several non-permitted people occupied them.
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This is why I walk everywhere.
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Another wonderful example of what is wrong with today's culture. "You must cater to my every whim or wish or else I am going to be upset and angry with you."
Here's a quick solution to your problem. Recognize the time and effort it takes you to get a burrito from Chipotle and take that into consideration when you want to order food and are tight on time. There are tons of parking spaces downtown that provide a short (yes, three blocks is short) walk to any vendor from Prices Fork to Washington St. That walk should be considered in your time calculation. Also, for your consideration, think of the other 5,000 people who feel the same way you do and would probably be competing for those same 100(?) spots made available by putting meters on private parking spaces.
Also, consider how many people are going to be pissed when they find their car towed cause the didn't move it out of the employee only space in time for business to open up the next day. Don't think it'll just be a ticket when that vendor opens the next day and doesn't have enough spaces for its' employees.
Lazy america is killing sane america.
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