[canuckexpat]

For all of you who think $1.50 an hour is expensive, you must have never left your own street let alone your own state to see what expensive parking means around the rest of the country.

Why don't you park at the Whole Foods and then just walk across? The store is open until 10pm 7 days a week.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by canuckexpat

For all of you who think $1.50 an hour is expensive, you must have never left your own street let alone your own state to see what expensive parking means around the rest of the country.

Why don't you park at the Whole Foods and then just walk across? The store is open until 10pm 7 days a week.

It's not that 1.50/hour is necessarily expensive, it's just not what people expected.

You can't part at Whole Foods and walk across -- it's for Whole Foods customers only. You can't leave your car there for three hours, even if you do end up going into Whole Foods before you leave. It's not fair (or allowed) to Whole Foods and their customers.

[MikefromCT]

Originally Posted by canuckexpat

Why don't you park at the Whole Foods and then just walk across? The store is open until 10pm 7 days a week.

You don't wanna do that. I've seen cars get ticketed on occassion for doing that and it 's not worth the risk of getting either that or a tow.

Many people do choose to park in the parking lot at Bank of America - there you can park during their non-business hours and no citations are handed out. People do it all the time. Also if you can find a parking meter on the street, it's free after 8PM I believe. There's also free street parking on Farmington Ave if you keep going west on the ave just past the center, with no parking meters.

[MikefromCT]

Originally Posted by JViello

Sorry Mike, I have to totally disagree with you there.

DT Hartford is one of the most accessible cities I know of. Very very easy to get into DT from either highway. Just pick an exit and get off. 48-49-50-52 on 84, 32A on 91 and then any exit you wish off the Whitehead or just stay on till Pulaski Circle.

The highways do not "zig zag" through downtown. It's almost a perfect + through going N/S and E/W. Maybe back in 1985 they did but not now.

One way streets? Welcome to any midsized to large city USA.

I've always scratched my head when folks say Hartford is hard to navigate, park, get in and out of etc.

For crying out loud you can get off 91, go 200 feet and there is a HUGE garage either at the convention center or the new Morgan street garage. Park your car and walk a few blocks to anywhere DT. It couldn't get any easier.

I also think BBS dropped the ball a bit. Wasn't is originally designed to link to the center and in essence expand it? Seems like the cookie cutter engineering firms don't know what to do with a REAL organic and historic downtown as opposed to the latest boomtown built last week type thing.

Well when I do go into downtown Htfd I avoid the highways altogether. I84 never moves when I'm on it usually and it's just quicker to take either Farmington Ave or Asylum Ave the whole way. I'm very familiar with the exits off the HWY. Just because a city is accessible by the highway doesn't mean it's easy to get around once you get off it and you're in the city. If it were street grids like New Haven it would be different.

As for the new buildings in BBS, I never said it was perfect. I discussed this previously. And I can see why some people feel the new buildings may overwhelm the neighborhood. But they're here now and there's nothing that can be done about it. Whether you feel they're of a cookie-cutter design is open to dispute and that depends on your point of view but the bottom line is they're here - the dye was cast. Besides, look at the multi-story buliding on South Main St where the large plaza has been for years. Nobody was complaining about that when it went up and that's fairly new.

[brasscitybluenwhite]

and getting lost in a bad neighborhood is not a guarantee that ur gonna get shot/stabbed/robbed..

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by DandJ

It's not that 1.50/hour is necessarily expensive, it's just not what people expected.

You can't part at Whole Foods and walk across -- it's for Whole Foods customers only. You can't leave your car there for three hours, even if you do end up going into Whole Foods before you leave. It's not fair (or allowed) to Whole Foods and their customers.

I agree. A far better option is to park in the Isham St garage, and get your parking ticket validated at the library (up to 2 hrs free). I find it easier to park and get to the BBS Au Bon Pain than the one in Westfarms Mall.

[Coem]

Ditto what a lot of others have been saying here. I like the concept of BBS, but not the final product. It was supposed to compliment West Hartford Center, but instead it sticks out as something completely different and there is really no natural flow from one to the other. What bothers me the most about BBS is that West Hartford didn't really need it as its downtown is already lively and thriving. This should have been built in Hartford or New Britain.

As for the people complaining about parking... sorry, but I really have no sympathy. If you don't want to pay the fee, then park somewhere else and walk. I spent most of my 20s living in Boston without a car, and what I learned was that having to walk 10-15 minutes to get somewhere is not the end of the world, in fact it can be enjoyable. Besides, the whole point of of having these revitalized downtowns is to get people walking.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by JViello

Sorry Mike, I have to totally disagree with you there.

DT Hartford is one of the most accessible cities I know of. Very very easy to get into DT from either highway. Just pick an exit and get off. 48-49-50-52 on 84, 32A on 91 and then any exit you wish off the Whitehead or just stay on till Pulaski Circle.

Easy for someone to say coming from the eastern part of the metro. Coming from the Farmington Valley on 84 is bumper to bumper during the morning and evening rush. It sucked when I had to go up to UCONN every morning for 9am from Danbury. But once I hit Manchester and it opened up to 3-4 lanes, it was smooth sailing.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Coem

Ditto what a lot of others have been saying here. I like the concept of BBS, but not the final product. It was supposed to compliment West Hartford Center, but instead it sticks out as something completely different and there is really no natural flow from one to the other. What bothers me the most about BBS is that West Hartford didn't really need it as its downtown is already lively and thriving. This should have been built in Hartford or New Britain.

As for the people complaining about parking... sorry, but I really have no sympathy. If you don't want to pay the fee, then park somewhere else and walk. I spent most of my 20s living in Boston without a car, and what I learned was that having to walk 10-15 minutes to get somewhere is not the end of the world, in fact it can be enjoyable. Besides, the whole point of of having these revitalized downtowns is to get people walking.

For better or worse, BBS is what it is, and it is pretty darn nice. Would you have preferred a group of strip malls set in a sea of asphalt? Or would you rather have it sit vacant and rotting like it was before. Pretty much everyone around the state thinks BBS is the best new shopping development around and I agree. It has won awards for its design. It is admired and when used a reference most towns will say they want that type of new development in their community.

Personally I will say I like BBS more than some other newer shopping centers like Evergreen Walk or Farmington Valley in Canton. There is no scale to Evergreen. I always get the feeling something is missing there. And Farmington Valley is down right ugly and poorly laid out. That is what happens when a community pushes its own agenda rather than follow good planning and design practices. JMHO, Jay

[Uconn97]

Jay - I don't think anyone is saying BBS isn't nice, but part of proper planning is incorporating existing architecture into the new. BBS did not do this. No one mentioned strip malls with a sea of asphalt!?? I like BBS enough, but I would have liked it more if it had kept more of the charm that is WH center. Like you said - JMHO! For the record I don't care much for evergreen or farmington valley centers. I think all the parking ruins the look these places could have had. Both would have benefited by placing parking behind all the shopping (or in a partially buried garage) and keeping the store fronts pedestrian friendly. Evergreen is a nightmare of cars with those speeding through to get to the other side of the center and those driving like idiots trying to get a spot in front of the store they want to go to. God forbid anyone has to walk anywhere these days - again JMHO.