Lake Merritt Public Parking Lot

If you want to make sure that the neighborhood is preserved, pop over to Save Astro Park on facebook. The parking in this area will get more congested if a potential dog run gets put there; ask the neighbors on Hardy if parking became more difficult, once a dog park was put in.

Here’s my plan: those of us who have lived in the neighborhood longest get parking permits that will allow us to park in specially designated spaces so that we can continue to shop where we’ve ALWAYS (ok, ten years) shopped without having to DRIVE AROUND FOR TEN MINUTES LOOKING FOR PARKING ON A WEEKDAY. How am I to pop into Peet’s, Arizmendi, Maribel, and the Gap in twenty minutes?
I am laughing really hard at myself right now (ten minutes, wah!), and I know I sound like a total asshole, but this parking lot used to be the most convenient thing in the world, and now it’s impossible to just park there. Why? There used to be a big grocery store and you could park all the time. Now — no store, no parking. Please explain?
It’s still convenient and free. So it’s got that going for it, which is nice.