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SoHo in a pickle over parking

The problem grows with the influx of new night spots. Officials are seeking solutions.

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published September 1, 2006

SOHO - One night in May, a blue sedan parked in front of Yari Evenson's home on Horatio Avenue, just off Armenia Avenue. In Evenson's city-reserved spot.

Evenson doesn't remember the model or make. There have been so many cars, so many trucks, so many vehicles of every sort.

But he remembers it was a blue sedan, because he'd just moved in earlier that day. As he dropped off his last load, the blue sedan was in his spot.

It was the first of many infiltrators. Hundreds, Evenson estimates.

"Living here is great," said Evenson, 25. "But you can't park here. I seriously wish I didn't even have a car. It's a nightmare trying to park, to drive, anywhere around here most nights of the week."

Parking and traffic issues have been common complaints for years in SoHo, an area generally defined as S Howard Avenue from Kennedy Boulevard to Bayshore Boulevard.

But problems have only grown in recent years with the influx of more bars, restaurants and nightclubs along the stretch.

City transportation officials responded recently by putting together a report on parking issues around the SoHo area and proposed solutions.

The report comes at the same time a developer is working toward approval for a Publix supermarket at Armenia Avenue between Azeele and Platt streets. That's on the northern edge of the business district, where on-street parking most evenings fills up quickly with vehicles transporting the party-hearty contingent.

Walter Crumbley, president of the Courier City-Oscawana Neighborhood Association, complained that the five-minute parking limit sign posted outside his home hardly deters offenders.

On occasion, people who received $30 fines for parking in his spot have thrown rocks through his windows, he said.

Two weeks ago, city transportation manager Roy LaMotte told the City Council he defined the problem area as bordered by Kennedy and Dakota, Swann and Armenia avenues.

LaMotte said residents have a need for about 350 on-street parking spaces, and that the entire area, which includes streets on the periphery of the hot spots, has about 928 on-street spaces.

SoHo socializers add about 300 cars Wednesday through Saturday nights, he said. Because there are available spots, his department plans to limit parking to one side of the street along portions of heavily parked Azeele and Horatio streets and Albany, Fremont and Westland avenues.

Another possibility might be to add on-street parking along Platt and Cleveland streets, LaMotte said. That not only would add some more parking, he said, but also could help ease speeding in the area.

However, council member John Dingfelder said he would only want to see on-street parking along Platt and Cleveland in the evenings. He said it was important to keep those streets as open as possible during business hours "to get that traffic in and out of downtown."

LaMotte told the council his staff would take another look at opening Platt and Cleveland to parking and report back.

Residents concerned about the Publix's effect on SoHo's parking and traffic woes met with the supermarket's representatives and developer RMC on Monday.

RMC president Michael Leeds said that Publix was giving some consideration to residents' requests. If built, the parking garage could become available to the public after the store closes at 10 p.m., he said.

However, several residents pointed out that the bar-hopping crowd already is in the area long before 10.

"I know that crowd, because I am that crowd," said Peggy Vannas, 28, who lives with her boyfriend at the Madison at SoHo condominiums.

Vannas, a regular at such SoHo destinations as MacDinton's, the Dubliner and Whiskey Park SoHo, said she doesn't have a problem because she has garage parking for her unit.

But it's become increasingly impossible for guests and friends to find anywhere to park even on "slow" nights, she said.

"And on Friday, forget about it," she said. "It's like they should have valet service for a 2-mile radius."

Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com or 226-3431.

[Last modified August 31, 2006, 09:53:54]