Preparing for Tent City 3: Parking and Carpooling

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"Tent City 3" on a bright gold background

Want to be a UUC “parking ambassador”?

UUC’s Tent City 3 Team is busy developing plans for accommodating the reduction in parking spaces available in the church lot while we host Tent City 3 from mid-March to mid-June. From our October parking survey, we learned that most UUC members are willing and able to park within a few blocks of the church to allow us to host TC3. Persons with mobility limitations and, in some cases, families with very young children are, of course, exceptions. Accordingly, we propose to prioritize these two groups for use of the 30–35 remaining available spaces in our lot. 

Please stop by our TC3 information/learning station in Nathan Johnson Hall after services on February 12 or 26. We’d love to hear your questions and input regarding parking, and we’ll collect information from those interested in carpooling to UUC and needing any assistance in getting started. If you can’t visit with us on those Sundays but have input or would like help with carpooling, please email UUCHomelessness@gmail.com.

The UUC’s Tent City 3 Team’s recent efforts:

  • Nearby Parking Lots Not in Use on Sunday Mornings. Thus far we’ve identified 22 off-street spaces potentially available for first-service and 8 for second-service attendees and are seeking more. We’ll share our findings by early March. 
  • Nearby On-Street Parking. We’re monitoring nearby on-street parking availability during our Sunday service times. Parking availability fluctuates somewhat from week to week, but so far the number of available parking spaces within 2 to 3 blocks has exceeded the number of “reduced” spaces in the UUC lot. 
  • Carpooling and public transportation. Some survey respondents expressed an interest in carpooling or public transportation. In addition to collecting information about carpooling as noted above, we’ll summarize the bus line information in an upcoming Gateway/website message.
  • Parking Ambassadors. To help drivers navigate the parking situation, we are recruiting Sunday morning parking ambassadors to be available near the entrance to our parking lot after Tent City 3 arrives. If you are interested in helping with this effort, please email UUCHomelessness@gmail.com. Parking ambassadors will let people know about priorities for use of the church lot, suggest alternative parking locations, and answer questions about parking. We hope that this will help ensure a smooth transition to our new, temporary parking situation.

~UUC’s Tent City 3 Team, UUCHomelessness@gmail.com