No More $280 Burritos in the West End
Kyle and I live near some very good restaurants on Farmington Avenue in the West End of Hartford; Tisane, Ichiban, Abyssinian, and Monte Alban.
A few months ago we met some friends for dinner at Monte Alban. Because we were running late and it was cold outside, I whined my way into convincing Kyle to drive us there, rather than making the .4 mile walk. There was no close street parking available, so we parked way in the back of the “Kinko’s lot” on Farmington Avenue, at the corner of Kenyon and Farmington.
The lot was essentially empty, it was after 6:30pm, and we thought everything was fine. Apparently we missed the “We will tow you with no exceptions” signs that were posted on the side of the building, not anywhere near where we parked.
We went into Monte Alban and enjoyed our dinner, which took about an hour. Then we proceeded back to the parking lot and the following dialogue went like this…
Amy: Hey, where’s the car? Didn’t we park right there? [pointing to empty parking space]
Kyle: Huh, the car doesn’t appear to be here. [scratching head]
Amy: Was the car stolen?!?!? [twitching and flailing starts]
Kyle: Calm down, calm down. I think we were towed. Yep, hey look, it says on the building that they’ll tow you. [starts rummaging for cell phone to call faded number on sign]
Amy: Towed? Towed where? Towed why? This lot is completely empty and no one is parked here! [voice getting shriller, flailing increasing]
Kyle: [speaking with towing company] Do you have our car? It’s a BlahBlah, license plate Blah. Okay, well where do we pick it up? Berlin. How much will that cost? $280, cash only. When can I get it?
Amy: Berlin? Why is the car in Berlin? $280?!? Are you kidding me?!?! [cursing starts, time to be spent in purgatory greatly increasing]
Long story short: we walk home, drive to the far reaches of Berlin, wait a half hour to meet some guy at a completely shady location, pay him $280 in cash (IRS audit anyone?), and drive home. Amy is in the doghouse for being “lazy” and making it the most expensive burrito dinner ever. [Although I later heard from another friend that they once had a $280 beer at Tisane due to the same unfortunate circumstances]
So why am I telling you about this? The parking situation for these four popular restaurants has recently improved. Some proactive West End residents worked with the property manager of the “Kinko’s lot” to secure some after hours parking spots for these restaurants.
You can now park in one of these 27 yellow-lined spots at the back of the parking lot…
Just make sure you follow these rules…
Seriously, follow the rules. If you park in a non-yellow lined space and leave that lot for other business, you will be towed. All the way to Berlin. So they can charge you $4 a mile for the towing. Am I still bitter? Nah…
For a minute I thought this post was going to be about Monte Alban closing, and you had just left out a decimal point (if only their burritos were so inexpensive!). But I am so pleased to see both that the restaurant is still there and also that the new parking plan is in place. It is sorely needed. The notion of “shared parking” (it works in lots of places) could really use some closer examination for this stretch of businesses. I feel bad for people who want to stop in at the CVS as well as eat at one of these restaurants. The All-Seeing Eye is watching for you and will pay attention to where you do business.
There’s also that huge vacant lot at the corner of Farmington and Girard, which people use for parking even when they probably shouldn’t. I’ve seen huge tractor trailer trucks parked there and I’m pretty sure that’s not okay. Even a UPS truck was there late at night one time – way after delivery hours, no driver, no one around. Not that I recommend using it to park but it doesn’t seem to have the same watchful eye.
A neighbor once told me that a developer was going to turn that lot into condos until the housing market hit a slump and now the site is in limbo. Know anything about it Amy?
Shared parking is a logical idea for the area. I honestly don’t know why it has not been deployed, other than greed. Maybe liability? I still have not heard a logical argument.
The lot you mention at the corner of Girard and Farmington that used to be a gas station/garage was supposed to be upscale apartments or condos. I did hear the idea was nixed at some point due to economic reasons. Someone told me at the WECA meeting Tuesday evening that they may be turning that into greenspace, ala a park. They didn’t have too many specifics, just that it would be a park. Don’t know timeline or if it is actually true. It could potentially be nice for the area though.
It’s about time! Why local businesses tow is beyond me! I would like to think they would want us being able to have a coffee and make some copies while doing our laundry. This is such good news!
sorry to hear about the car… I had my car towed when I was college and I was so angry about the cash only requirement… taking a cab with $200 in case burning a hole in my wallet to the shady part of Baltimore was not fun.
On the other hand, thanks for the update on parking. I always hate circling around there looking for a spot, and we don’t live quite close enough to walk.
[...] Amy explains some new parking rules at the Kinko’s lot off of Farmington Avenue. This will hopefully ease some of the concerns people have about getting towed when they park in a lot that’s otherwise unused at a certain time of evening. [...]