They finally got smart about game day parking

hens won, btw. :)

hens won, btw. :)

I was there too Nana, great game and we got lucky the storms passed. The cool breeze felt good. Still can't believe I missed those two homeruns, went to get a pretzel after the 7th inning stretch lol.

Sucks about parking, the garage was charging $5 which seems reasonable. Last time I tried to go down there it seemed like most places wanted $8-$10 to park.

It was, we had a lot of fun, first time this year, we slack. :)

so do we know anything about that empty lot across Erie that used to be free? I'm imagining that the City closed it off due to agreements with the parking authority who is collecting behind ESM, but I'm paranoid. your tax dollars not working, lol.

tom crothers in the mayor's office is tight with clayton johnston at the parking authority. i would consider charging for parking at the ESM lining the pockets of the parking authority - this lot and the one across erie are city of toledo public parking and allowing the authority to charge for them is outside any previous contract and a scam.

maybe steve steel can let us know if the city has a contract with the authority for those lots?! you here steve?

I have been going to Hens games since they moved downtown and have never had to pay for parking. Always park in the same spot on the street, but gasp I have to walk a whole two blocks. And no, I won't say where this spot is!

Hickory: I don't mind walking but curious how can you tell what is and isn't ok to park downtown? I'd rather pay $5 for the ease of mine knowing my car will be relatively safe from being towed.

Except for Grumpy's parking lot and Erie Street market don't know of any free spots.

coffee, as we walked up Erie to the park, we saw many cars parked on the grass by an empty buildings, I think the one that used to house Root Outdoor? we wondered if they were going to come back to tickets or tows. another empty building lot was being collected and they were parking people on the grass.

INC, there are spots all over downtown. Try Huron, Madison, and St. Clair streets. I always find a spot on the street.

sure cure for folks who dont like toledo's downtown parking availability or pricing...

attend a sporting event in ANY large city you choose.

You'll long to be back in toledo where parking it cheap and close by...

billy: agree use to love going to events in Pittsburgh and it was a nightmare before/afterwards.

I don't understand that comparison. I would think real sports fans could tell the difference between the caliber of play with the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers and their opponents versus Toledo's minor league teams. Obviously, the minor league teams will cost less to attend and have much smaller crowds. In 2011, the Detroit Tigers are averaging 30,620 people per home game, which is a bit more than the Mud Hens are drawing per game.

Billy, so true! Sporting events (and concerts held in sports venues) in Atlanta were a nightmare. Four or five times the volume of traffic has to squeeze into the same urban spaces for a timed event, both coming and going. Parking is routinely $20 and the nearest lots know that people will pay even more than that. There is NO free on-street parking.

Parking in Detroit is as low as $5 for Red Wings, Tigers, Lions. Just gotta know where to look

hoops, last time I was up there, dude tried to talk me into paying him to park on the street, lol.

There are a few characters up there.....saw the TV crew from the TV show Parking Wars a couple months ago while looking for a spot. Tomorrow night is Sammy Hagar/Kid Rock at Comerica so parking will be a little complicated

last time I was there it was for Guster at the State (oops, Fillmore, you can tell I'm old) and the Tigers were playing. My sis had to park 6 blocks up Woodward and by the time we got to the car, we were alone and running. Not sure there's any band I would go to Detroit for anymore. Rather drive to the Hard Rock in Clevenad and get a room for the night.