Ask a2view

Public parking at the Federal Building

by Tim Athan

Published in November, 2020

Q. Why were the fifteen or so parking places along the east wall of the downtown post office reassigned to government workers? Do they realize what a hassle this will be for the tax-paying public come Christmas?

A. The downtown post office is located in the Federal Building, which has three parking areas: a secure lot behind the building for courts and law enforcement, a lot for postal vehicles, and the visitor parking lot on Fifth Ave.

This summer and fall, part or all of the visitor lot has been turned over to building tenants while their lots are being repaved. During the work, the Downtown Development Authority has set aside the five metered parking spaces in front of the building on Liberty St., at no cost, for 10-minute visitor parking.

Christmas won't be a problem: work is anticipated to be complete by mid-November. The visitor parking area will then reopen, and the spaces along Liberty will return to normal metered parking.