Community Corner
That Jays Traffic Around the Stadium Gives Back to Dunedin
With only a small parking area for Blue Jays season ticket holders at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium and nearby street parking prohibited, business owners and local organizations can make a few bucks — mostly to pass on to others.
When the roll into town each year for spring training, of course, so do their fans. That means on game days Douglas Avenue and roads around the become a busy scene.
The stadium’s onsite parking is for season ticket holders and handicapped people only, and even for those fans, parking is tight. This leaves many carloads of fans searching for parking. So what’s a fan to do?
The answer is quite simple, actually. They must be prepared to shell out a few bucks and walk a bit to get to the stadium.
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The city of Dunedin doesn’t allow neighborhood street parking during baseball season and workers even go to the trouble each year of erecting signs warning people not to park on the narrow residential streets.
While some residents welcome the no-parking rule, others don’t see what the harm would be in allowing fans to park in the stadium neighborhood.
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“I think they should let the people park here,” said Bonnie Adlam, who lives on Dexter Drive behind the stadium. “It’s a public street. I don’t see what the big deal is.”
The city, she said, needs to support the baseball team in every aspect, Adlam added.
“If they’re going to promote the Blue Jays, then they need to come up with a parking plan,” she said. “I don’t think people parking on the street for four hours during a game is a problem.”
The problem is, said Greg Rice, Dunedin’s Planning and Development director, that when cars flood the residential streets, it’s difficult for emergency vehicles to get through. That’s why the city puts up several resident-only parking signs on the city’s streets near the stadium, he said.
“I’m OK with it, I think especially on this street because it’s exceptionally narrow,” said 64-year-old Natalie Cob, of Dexter Avenue, about prohibiting visitors from parking on neighborhood streets.
The parking situation creates a prime situation for nearby businesses and organizations to capitalize on the lack of parking for the 5,509-capacity ballpark. Many open up their lots to fans — for a price.
Just down the road from the stadium, Louise and Harry Williams own a few lots near the intersection of Lyndhurst Street and Douglas Avenue. During each of the Blue Jays home games, the couple wears orange shirts and tries to wave baseball fans into their lots for $5 or $10 per vehicle, depending on the game's popularity. When the Blue Jays play teams like the Tampa Bay Rays, the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox or the Philadelphia Phillies on this day, they charge the higher price. Most other lots follow suit. The Williamses can fit about 60 cars per game on their lots.
“It pays our taxes,” Louise Williams said, holding a "$10" (for parking) sign. “I wouldn’t mind if it was all year round but it’s not.”
Across the street, Bill Douglas, executive director of the , waves cars into a larger shaded lot.
“It’s our biggest fundraiser,” he said of parking cars during spring training.
The use of the large lot across the street from the museum at 500 Douglas Ave. is actually donated by its owner with whom the museum splits the proceeds. But the cash for the 35 or so cars that fit around the museum building can be kept to fund the museum’s operating, utility and advertising costs, Douglas said.
“We make a few thousand dollars off it each year, depending on the weather,” he said. “We have repeat customers year after year who want to support the museum."
If fans aren’t among the lucky few to park at the stadium, the next best parking is directly across the street at the .
The going rate here all season is $10 a vehicle, said Dutch Grubbs, post commander.
“We’ve got prime parking, we don’t care who’s playing,” he said, chuckling.
He estimates that of the 130 cars they can park, between 70 to 80 percent of them are repeat customers.
“That’s our biggest fundraiser of the year,” he said of the parking.
VFW post officials seize another opportunity on game days, too, by offering $2 hamburgers and $1 hotdogs. On game day March 18, they made about $350 on food, with Grubbs doing all the cooking.
“I’m feeling every bit of it,” he said shortly after the Blue Jays and Yankees got under way. “This is the best day yet.”
Cars started filling up the post parking lot shortly after its 9 a.m. opening. The lot was completely full by 11:30 a.m., about 90 minutes before the first pitch. The more successful the day, the more money goes back into the community with the post’s donations, he said.
“We split it up,” he said.
It goes to causes such as the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping severely injured soldiers, and to the Voice of Democracy and Patriots Pen, both VFW scholarship programs.
Grubbs said nothing could help them help the community more than parking cars during spring training.
“We’re very thankful there’s a lack of parking at the stadium,” he said.