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Parking lots fill up as fans come early By STEPHEN HEGARTY © St. Petersburg Times, published April 1, 1998 T. PETERSBURG -- Tom Mumford thought he had it all figured out. With a prime parking location like his -- the Rip Shop on First Avenue S, a couple of blocks from Tropicana Field -- he figured he would open the lot at 2 p.m. That's a good three hours before game time. Maybe he could fill the lot before the first pitch. A little after noon, he changed plans. A steady stream of baseball fans already were steering into his lot, just dying to give him $10. It was that kind of day Tuesday. Fans descended on downtown St. Petersburg early to snag a good parking spot and experience Opening Day to the fullest. Many were surprised how easy it was. Sandra Hill and her uncle, Anthony Fisher of St. Petersburg, parked about 4 p.m., and for $10 they still were able to get a parking spot a few blocks from the stadium. Many others had trouble with the city's new parking pay stations. Some machines worked well, but many simply would not take money. Some would not take credit cards. Doug Elliott of Winter Haven repeatly tried to stuff a $10 bill into a parking pay station along First Avenue N. It kept coming out. He tried three different bills. Same result. What advice did city parking manager Frank Del Monaco have for Elliott? "Tell him to forget about it. Enjoy the game. Christmas came early." Del Monaco said some of the city's 130 new machines must be adjusted. Many were installed just last week, and all went into operation Tuesday. "The ones along here are working great," said city ambassador Regina Wade, who spent much of her day helping fans work the new parking machines along Third Avenue S. "You get a lot of blank looks, but once you read the directions they're all right. But if you've got crumpled bills, you're out of luck." For some people, their luck was exceptional. People parking in the First Union parking garage, at First Avenue S and Fifth Street, were delighted to find that no one was around to take their money. "I have an account at First Union so I guess it's okay," said St. Petersburg resident John Thomas, 47. Shuttle buses, considered the backbone of the city's plans for dispersing traffic and parking, were quite busy from about 2 to 4 p.m. Jock and Marnie McGlathery of Tampa waited about 10 minutes for their shuttle bus. It picked them up along First Avenue N by the Florida International Museum, where they parked. "We went to see the Titanic exhibit, and now we're going to the game," McGlathery said. "Everything is running pretty well." Things didn't go well for everyone. Benny Narvaez hurriedly rolled his wheelchair up to Gate 5 about 5:10 p.m. Tuesday, minutes after the opening pitch. He had spent 45 minutes driving around outside the dome. "They were supposed to have handicapped parking over by Gate 1, but they sent me to another gate," Narvaez said. "They kept sending me around and around." The trick, it seems, was getting there early. And it being the first-ever major-league game for the Devil Rays, fans clearly were eager to get started as early as they could. Mike Poliquin, Doug Litman and their families parked their cars a couple of blocks from the stadium about 11:15 a.m. Tuesday. Why so early? Poliquin, of Dunedin, answered by holding his arms out, palms up, as if to say that the answer is obvious. "This," he said, "is an event." -- Staff writer Stephen Nohlgren contributed to this report. Business | Citrus | Commentary | Entertainment Hernando | Floridian | Obituaries | Pasco | Sports State | Tampa Bay | World & Nation © Copyright 1998 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.