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Vail Daily letter: Angry about parking

Dave Kraft
Vail, CO, Colorado

Nothing fazes the people of Vail anymore. Nothing. Does anyone have any backbone left in this town? I am speaking out against the naked greed of Vail’s parking operation.

No matter how much more the town collects every year, they try to collect even more the next year.

There should have been an outrage from locals when they started charging for “somewhat inconvenient parking” at the soccer field. The locals just laid down for it, just like they do every time. When the town started charging to park at Ford Park, there should have been a massive protest from the locals.



Once the town got away with charging for “really inconvenient ski parking” like Ford Park, the sky was the limit.

I pointed out last year that tour buses that bring 40 or 50 skiers were always welcome to park for free in Lionshead charter bus lot. It was that way since I can remember back to the early 1980s, when there was also charter bus parking in the village, as well. It was likely that way before I got here, back to the beginning of Vail.

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You welcome tour buses for almost 50 years with open arms because they are bringing the merchants of Vail “money in the bank.” Now they have to pay $25. Whether they are there 10 minutes or 24 hours does not matter.

I read a quote from Assistant Town Manager Pam Brandemeyer regarding summer event parking rates at Ford Park being doubled. I paraphrase here: “Charging $10 for parking at Ford Park is a steal.” That takes guts to say.

I object in the strongest terms to the lack of consideration given to softball players’ parking needs during special events at Ford Amphitheater. The town has said loud and clear that softball players’ parking needs do not matter during special events. They charge us to park when we are already paying to use the fields.

This degrades the Vail softball playing experience considerably, while the teams are paying plenty to be there.

It’s another case of no collective backbone by the locals to stand up to raw deals the town dishes out every year when they take away one more free thing like the free charter bus lot this past season.

What is next season’s parking increase plan, perhaps a $20 toll plaza just to enter the Vail town limits?

Dave Kraft


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