The Old Townie: Tarnished parking karma

Last week, I was rewarded twice with Uptown slant parking very close to my intended destinations.

I went to Starbucks about 1:15 p.m. and found three vacant spots, including the one I took just in front of the store. That evening, going to Steinkeller’s steak night special, I lucked out as someone was just leaving the spot by the alley in front of U Shop. I pulled in (illegally) next to that car, and then jockeyed into the empty space, grinning from ear to ear. Parking is made easier when students are gone for spring break.

In the earliest of my days coming to Oxford on a regular basis in the mid-to-late ’70s, parking was far simpler. As a commuter grad student, I was able to find meter parking on South Campus when I had a class in McGuffey, and then in the Cook Field lot, the lots behind the former Student Union, Bishop Circle for class in Laws Hall.

Students with cars were a minority.

Moving to town in the ’80s, I remember City Council beginning to think about adding Uptown Parking. I remember a Marathon gas station where the LCNB Bank building stands, but I don’t remember what stood across North Main. That space became the first added parking Uptown and became home for the Farmer’s Market.

Miami had the Millett lot, but as student vehicles increased, Miami’s responses seemed to happen every few years. In no particular order, the university added more parking after the football field moved near Millett, enlarged the lot ringing Cook Field on multiple sides, added a lot behind the Marcum Conference Center, and put new parking behind the original Goggin, Withrow Court and the old Nat.

In 2001, the city built the Uptown Parking Garage. Miami added its first parking garage when the Goggin moved to its current location and when the Rec opened. The huge lot on 73 East across from the horse stables appeared. Old Talawanda morphed into Chestnut Fields parking, and the north campus parking garage later opened.

Student apartment housing multiplied with their own lots.

For those who are environmentalists, I wonder how much carbon emissions have increased due to the explosion of vehicles in Oxford? Surely, hybrid vehicles, scooters, electric vehicles and bike lanes have made a positive trade-off over the past 10 to 15 years. But how much of an offset?

You may empathize with my good fortune to find those two Uptown spots last week during spring break. But some battles are won and some are lost. I returned to my car after eating, and found I had a $25 ticket for straddling the lines of the legal spot I’d grabbed. Sigh.

Steve Schnabl moved to Oxford in 1985. He retired in 2023 from Oxford Seniors after a 40-year career directing nonprofits.