Bethlehem to Get More Parking Spots for Tourists. Not You. You Suck.

You have to admit that searching for a parking spot when you’re headed to Musikfest is enough to make you just not want to fucking go.

And then, all the neighbors, like some form of legalized mafia, start charging you to pay in parking lots that are never used throughout the year, or are normall free and now are getting pimped out.

OH, and the Bethlehem Parking Authority will make sure you’re FUCKED for coming to their nice festival if you happen to park for two hours and fifteen minutes in a 2 hour zone.

“Thanks for coming to Musikfest and getting raped by beer prices, here’s your ticket, fuck off and come again!”

Well, it looks like there are going to be more spots soon, well not soon soon, but soon.

The Bethlehem Parking Authority has made a $1.6 million deal to buy the Main Street Commons parking deck, behind the former Orr’s building, to develop more parking near the historic downtown, a city official told City Council on Tuesday.

The agreement with the Main Street Commons owners would allow the authority to move ahead with providing more parking as laid out in a study last year, said Tony Hanna, city director of community and economic development.

In response to questions from council, Hanna said the authority is expecting to borrow money to undertake improvements of the first phase of the project. The state has already committed $3 million toward the project, he said.

The authority on Aug. 12 authorized its director, Hector Nemes, to sign an agreement of sale, according to the authority’s resolution.

Councilwoman Jean Belinski, liaison to the parking authority, said she hopes the deal goes through. ”Downtown Bethlehem lacks parking and the [parking deck] is sorely needed,” Belinski said.

A $50,000 study funded by several entities including the city and parking authority, found that locating parking spots downtown is challenging in part because of what entices visitors to Bethlehem.

Restored historic structures, some dating to the city’s 18th century founding by the Moravians, dot the streets, and quaint shops are housed in Victorian buildings that emerged around the Moravian settlement, making few spots available for a parking garage.

Mayor John Callahan last year unveiled two options that came out of the study.

One option would reconfigure the Main Street Commons deck and extend it to the Hotel Bethlehem deck. That would add 168 spots for a total of 283 and cost $6.5 million.

The other solution would cost $12.7 million and require demolition of the Main Street Commons deck. A new five-story structure would be built and would hook into the hotel deck, which would add 291 spots for a total of 406.

Other parts of the plan include angled parking along Main Street and some parking space across the Broad Street bridge, Hanna said. Source

They are going to have to cut down some trees if they plan to extend the deck from the back of Brew Works to the Hotel Bethlehem deck. And, I’m sure, they will be metered spots.

My question is, thorughout most of the year there are no problems parking. It’s a rare time that you head to Brew Works and there isn’t ONE spot. And, worst case, you just park a block away and walk your fat/slutty/lazy ass down to the club.

So, this is basically to make sure there are more spots for Musikfest and, somewhat, for Celtic Fest.

Interesting. It’s a bit too early in the a.m. to expound more on this, so you can do that in comments section. I haven’t even had coffee yet.