Lowest Greenville parking lot. (Photo by Danny Fulgencio)
With its unusual boutiques and hot restaurants, Lowest Greenville has been an entertainment mecca in the city for decades, and a source of debate by neighbors for just as long. Residents seem to love the walkability of the area, but they’re less fond of the traffic and noise it draws through their residential streets.
Exactly what to do about the parking situation in the bustling neighborhood has also been hotly debated. While business owners seem to agree that their customers are bothered by the parking, or lack there of, others like Councilman Philip Kingston don’t see a problem at all.
“It’s not hard to park there. It’s really not. You just have to separate yourself from the idea that you’re going to pull up to the front of the restaurant and park right in front of it. That’s not going to happen,” Kingston told the Advocate in 2015.
Last year, the city took steps to change the perceived parking problem by launching communal valets. Private businesses like HG Sply Co. used to host private valet stations for their customers, but now they are open to any driver.
“[Private valets] really don’t work in a high-foot traffic area, because usually people who come to Greenville go to more than one place during their visit,” says Sammy Mandell of Greenville Avenue Pizza Company. “[Communal valet] was a move the city did to make Greenville more pedestrian friendly.”
What’s more, it’s totally free (save for the voluntary tip, of course).
“The businesses are fronting the bill so the customer doesn’t have to,” Mandell says. “It’s been a nice solution to the parking problem.”
By consolidating the number of valet stands on Lower Greenville, the city also seeks to keep traffic moving. You can find the valets outside Trader Joe’s on the southern end of the entertainment district, and outside Rapscallion on the northern side.
