Tuesday, April 06, 1999
Stealing base easier than parking car
Downtown spots filled up early
BY TANYA ALBERT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Reds fans who got downtown after 11 a.m. Monday and wanted to find parking quickly could forgettaboutit.
Heavy traffic on downtown streets combined with “full” signs on downtown parking garages left some fans driving around for an hour trying to find a spot to park the car.
“We got downtown at 11:10. We got a parking spot at 12:24,” said Torin Walters, 35, who drove in from Huntington, W. Va., with two friends.
“We passed about 25 parking lots. They were all full,” Mr. Walters said.
After creeping along city streets for more than an hour — it only took them 21/2 hours to get to Cincinnati — Mr. Walters and his friends finally got a spot near Sixth and Vine streets.
Parking is almost always tight on Opening Day, but there were even fewer parking spots to scramble for this year.
Riverfront and downtown development have gobbled up 1,246 parking spaces, since last season. “We had to circle around and around,” Mary Ansara, of Bridgetown said after spending 45 minutes to find a spot at a garage on Main Street.
Most fans who drove downtown for the game's 2:05 p.m. start had to have found their parking spots before 10:30 a.m. or had a monthly parking pass at a downtown garage.
But among the most stress-free fans were those who took the bus, hopped in a cab or parked in Northern Kentucky and walked.
“I parked at the Holiday Inn (in Queensgate) and took a cab in with no problem,” Green Township resident Bob Hater said as he made his way into Cinergy Field.
“I knew I wouldn't be able to find a parking space.”
Ann Egbers who came downtown for the parade with her daughter and grandson even got a better deal. Her husband dropped them off for the parade at 10:45 a.m.. She called him after the game to pick them up.
The Fort Wright woman didn't want to attempt to find a parking spot Monday.
“With all the construction down here we thought, "Nah, we were not going to try it.'”
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