April 23, 2008
Changes to Nationals Parking Starting Tonight
If you're heading down to Nationals Park tonight to watch the team face the Mets at 7:10 p.m., you might like to know that you suddenly have a new option in terms of transportation: you can actually just drive and pay $15-$20 to park when you get there.
WTOP first reported this policy change late on Monday. Before today, you had to be a season ticket holder or buy game day parking permits online beforehand in order to park at the stadium. We were told over and over again to take Metro to the game, because there wouldn't be any parking available. But evidently, officials did such a good job convincing fans that they shouldn't try to park that no one actually did -- meaning there have been plenty of empty spaces in those giant, ugly parking structures in front of the ballpark.
Mark Segraves cites anonymous city officials who are apparently complaining that this new parking regime will undermine their efforts to encourage people to take public transportation. It does seem like we the fans are getting mixed messages about the desperate need for parking alternatives: the remote RFK lot will still operate for the rest of this season, though Nats officials are saying they might do away with it next year. Who would have thought parking at Nationals Park would end up being such a non-issue?
Single game drive-up spaces will reportedly cost $15 in Lot HH, and $20 in Lots W and T. The Nats are also adding valet parking, at a cost of $50, in the old Metro bus garage on M Street.
Tickets to tonight's game are available here.
Photo by dougvansant
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This still makes me wonder: why would anybody be daft enough to drive to the ballpark? Is there any good reason to do this? Seriously?
People in this area sometimes are the epitome of lazy. Why the District is allowing the extra parking to become available is beyond me.
valet parking for $50 plus tip. incredible.
that's 50 packs of ramen noodles. 5 meals at five guys. 2 1/2 lap dances.
But evidently, officials did such a good job convincing fans that they shouldn't try to park that no one actually did -- meaning there have been plenty of empty spaces in those giant, ugly parking structures in front of the ballpark
I think it probably has less to do with the pro-Metro campaign and more to do with the fact that nobody's going to the games, period. At this point, I imagine the Nationals would consider encouraging people to double park on South Capitol St. if it would get more people to show up.
I hope this apparent lack of enthusiasm is just a product of a crappy team and unseasonably cold weather, but I can't help but think it's a product of a more fundamental problem, i.e. this town can't support a baseball team.
This still makes me wonder: why would anybody be daft enough to drive to the ballpark? Is there any good reason to do this? Seriously?
Morbid obesity, asthma, and personal hygene problems come to mind.
Personally, I find it amusing that parking your car can cost more than your ticket to the game!
Totally agree with you Songfta. I have a car, but I almost always resort to taking the metro when going anywhere in the district, especially when everything's within reasonable* walking distance!
On the other hand - I sorta support the idea of them offering people to park near the stadium. The trains would be a bit less crowded on game days (and yet we probably wouldn't notice), and there'd be more parking spaces in the suburb metro stations for those who want to park there and visit the city for non-sporting events.
*A mile or so for me's reasonable, but probably doesn't apply to all.
the stupidity in the way this has all been handled is legion.
the city successfully figured out a way to scare/cajole people into taking public transportation, and traffic foul-ups have been reduced to a minimum. of course, this means the team and the city aren't getting their grubby little fingers on as much tax money as they hoped from parking.
now, don't get me wrong, most of that parking tax dollar will be coming from suburban schlubs, paying for the right to drive their canyonero right up to the front door. as a resident (and taxpayer) in the district, i'll gladly soak mr. and mrs. fairfax county of every damn dollar i can get.
but....
attempts at cutting down on driving both for the environment and for a better, more livable neighborhood around the park will suffer. it all comes down to the almighty greenback (or purpleback if you look at the new $5 bill).
i'm sure the city and the team will oscillate wildly between pro- and anti-parking positions depending on how the revenue and congestion work out. but know this, there is no real guiding principle other than "make money". biggie would be proud...
UStreet:
Forget parking! If you just care about being at the game, and not being closer to the lack of offensive production, a single beer can actually cost more than your ticket to the game! Hooray Beer!
McGillicuddy - Paddy O'Furniture's Pumphouse and Irish Massage Parlor is have a 2-4-1 McMidget leprechaun lapdance special for anyone who brings a National's ticket stub. Try the hot wings and the Irish nachos, but pass on the Finnegan's Wake All-Day Irish Breakfast (it'll give you the riverruns).
Tell Wee Siobhán the Monkey says "Hi."
thanks primate porn, but I'm not into midgets or hot wings.
aye, but I do love me some Irish Breakfast. nothing goes better together than baked beans and blood sausage.
Well, me, I like simple pleasures, like leprechaun strippers and butter in my ass and lollipops in my mouth. That's just me.
Fake-ass Irish pub that it is, Fado does some decent bangers and mash. Better than Sine. Better than The Dubliner. No leprechaun strippers, though.
No leprechaun strippers, though.
They can be found after hours at the Irish Times on Wednesday nights.
you can get wayyy more packs of ramen for 50 bucks if you go to costco.
and the leprechaun strippers hang out in the times basement, or rather club swerrrrve.
Wait! I was always told that an 'Irish breakfast' was a shot of whiskey and a punch in the face. You used me Colin Ferrell, you used me.
The Nats really do seem to have a major problem on their hands: way too few people are paying for the privilege of parking in their garages and lots. I'm sure the Lerners had fancy spreadsheets showing projections of parking usage and the profits. And those spreadsheets would apparently now be useless since their projections are way off. Whether this continues into the season would seem to depend on whether the Nats continue to suck. But if I'm the Lerners, I've gotta be quite nervous about attendance being lower than projected and parking revenue also being lower than expected. The Lerners are all about the bottom line. If that bottom line is too low, then I have no doubt they will start making cuts in stadium expenses.
Haw, haw! After all the sound and fury about how desperate they were for parking, now the Lerners get hoisted with their own vacant cement-and-rebar petard. Tiniest violin in the world over here.
Is there still time to bring back the gay bathhouses? Or at least have oiled guys in thongs and asschaps work as valets?
@hillrat - I thought Wednesday night at Irish Times was Oompah-loompah lapdance and all-you-can-eat-Lucky-Charms night?
@monkey
Keyword: afterhours
So how about bringing back the ground floor retail on both parking decks north of the stadium like was originally planned before Stan Kasten and the Lerners' hissy fits about parking forced the city to back down, from, y'know, having a say on what our $611 million should be used for. Sure would be a better treatment of the street frontage in an area that is soon going to have other buildings with ground floors dedicated to something other than parking across from them.
The ground floor of the entire stadium block is completely dead. Which is good for the Half Street developers when their mixed-use buildings go up I suppose but bad for the rest of us. Get rid of the bottom level of the decks and wrap upper levels of parking inside retail uses like originally proposed. I know you can't do that during this season, but make it happen in the off-season.
Or just tell more people to drive and fill up parking spots. Lerners...Nats...whatever. -roll eyes-
In other news, has anyone else who's been to a mostly-full game noticed how the fancy-pants billion dollar seats behind home plate have been empty every game, even for the highest-attended ones? I was at the Braves game a couple of Fridays ago, which was nearly full, but you could see the line of demarcation where the normal people ended and the diamond club or whatever it's called started. One side full, one side nearly empty. D'oh!
Did you massively over estimate the big spenders, Nats?
I feel like every spring we are told at length about how great baseball used to be: games of pepper, wistful George Will columns, etc. I think there was something about it on NPR this morning.
And you wonder if this era will ever be remembered so fondly. $50 valet parking, $7 Miller Lites, SW DC clearly in transition, etc. Can this be described as the golden age of baseball?
Did you massively over estimate the big spenders, Nats?
Yes and no; yes to the individual big spenders and no about the corporate big spenders. I've got tix tomorrow night for the corporate suite and I know a bunch of guys that work for other big corps that have also been suckling on the corporate teat for Nats tickets.
I have to say it's a pretty damning indictment about demand for baseball in this area, that a way down the totem pole motherfucker like myself is able to score free tix to the brand new stadium less than a month into the season.
I thought the bigwig level season ticket seats behind home plates had sold out long ago? Could it be that the owners of those season tickets just haven't attended any games since Opening Day? If that's the case, then the Nats have already gotten the money for the seats. Although it does look bad on TV when every batter has a backdrop of empty blue seats. The Nats have to start letting people from the cheaper sections fill in those seats to make it look better on TV.
Isn't this the standard developer runaround? When they need community support they play up all the ground floor amenities and retail that will come to the neighborhood. But when it finally comes to break ground, gee, we "can't make the numbers work" and all that goes out the goddamned window and you get blank garages and acres of parking lots and NO RETAIL. Or you get a CVS and a $tarf**s and a McDonalds low-rent soup kitchen and de facto homeless shelter. What do you have around Camden Yards? Besides a couple bars on Pratt Street, you got, surprise, parking lots and no ground floor retail! So yeah, they suck for building walls where shops should be but we suck because we fall for it again and again and again.
Anyone care to wager what will happen if and when they redevelop RFK Stadium? Because that's going to be TOTALLY different! Yeah, we're getting the band back together and we're going to Seattle! Because this time, it's for reals, man! It's about THE MUSIC!
Anyone care to wager what will happen if and when they redevelop RFK Stadium?
Probably not, but I won't care 'cause when I'm selling my place all I care about is being able to include the phrase "walking distance to the New RFK."
In trendy East Capitol Hill. But by then, it'll have an even trendier name, like East Independence Avenue, or "EaseIndyPee."
I was very excited about the prospect of getting a new team/stadium. I don't really care that the team sucks that bad...they were the friggin Expos, what do you expect? They'll be better in about 6 years. However, what won't be better in the next I don't know...ever? That piece of shit they call a stadium. It has no aesthetic value whatsoever. It looks like some bland remake of minor league stadium. Add on overcharging fans for everything and sucky concession lines, the only redeeming value of the game experience is the flawless Metro ride and a giant HD big screen...how is that supposed to pack people into a stadium, esp. when the team is developing?
"In 2007 the Zoning Commission approved temporary surface parking lots, to last no more than five years, on the three blocks along Canal Park where the new apartment buildings will be built and on the old Capper Seniors site. It's not expected that these residential projects will begin before 2010." -- jdland.com
in the end, it comes down to cutting corners. the lerners build shitty shopping malls, for crissakes. these people don't know how to do a real urban location. they didn't spend the right amount of money or do the right things to make this work.
now, over time, things will get better, but those parking garages, for example, will have to come down to be replaced with something worthwhile, something that makes it feel like a city and not a parking lot on stilts.
chinablock didn't gentrify in a day, and neither will the area around the ballpark...
Anyone care to wager what will happen if and when they redevelop RFK Stadium?
I know! Relocate the bath houses, drag queen bars and strip joints there! Doesn't "Zigfields at RFK" have a classy ring to it?
They could put the remaining public dungeon that is still near the new stadium in the empty parking garages, as they look gray and gloomy and scary.
And as for the day-of-game parking, I don't know why anyone would pay those ridiculous prices with the free shuttle from RFK and with the Metro being so close. Lot HH is REALLY far from the park, anyway.
I would just like to point out that I successfully managed to steer the conversation away from stripping midget fetishes and back to the stadium.
-pats own back-
People who drive to the ballpark are evil.
Right, the only people who shouldn't be driven out of town are the tens of thousands who ride their bikes to the ballpark.