My own patch of...Concrete?

I've blogged before on my plight searching for a home to call my own. Having lived in Dormont for six years I've come to love the community with it's walkable lifestyle and convenient options. I love Dormont so much that I've recruited many of my friends and coworkers to move to the area. What can I say, I'm a regular apostle for the Mountain of Gold.

If there is one thing I ever warn people about it's parking. In fact, when I was actively looking to stay in the area it was the homes that didn't rely upon parking on the street that captured my enthusiasm. "Oh my gosh, this one has an off street parking pad that I can access from the street AND the back alley!" I think I had the conversation with my parents more often than not - about how I don't drive aside from the weekends and that the convenience and ease of public transit is much more my style than gridlocked driving and parking wars.

Well, my own personal parking war has been on Belrose Avenue for the past few years.

A one-way street with several rental units (some of which have two cars to them) and many homes that also seem to have too many cars for their driveways and garages, Belrose is often a game of parking lot bingo. Once upon a time there was an equilibrium, though. Some people who drove parked overnight in the Port Authority lot, moving their cars when they drove to work in the morning. Sure, there were people who abused the system, but mostly it seemed everything worked in harmony. Unfortunately, with the lastest round of $100 tickets parking in the lot has ceased.

So, what can possibly be done to ease up the parking problems on my street? What do other streets do? You wouldn't think that Dormont has the same parking problems as Oakland or even Shadyside; but, apparently, we do. I know my street isn't the only one gridlocked as it is. What scares me most is that I've actually seen a parking chair make an appearence. Let that sink in: A parking chair. I've also observed people 'double parking' (I use the term loosely because we don't have lines on our street) in an effort to try and keep people from blocking them in.

What's clear is our community was not built for the influx of automobiles that has occurred in the last few decades. What isn't as clear is what we as a community can do to better manage it. What I do promise is to keep on parking at the far end of my street so the elderly that do live in my building can continue to park close, I hope everyone else considers doing the same.