Do you think most people who park in the lot know who owns it? Even if they do, why do you think they would care? I would be willing to bet most people will take the cheapest lot as opposed to specifically selecting the "official" Union lot, especially if the "official" lot comes at a premium. Distance to the stadium is certainly a factor as well. Also, I would be willing to bet that demand for parking in all lots near the stadium is somewhat elastic. If the price of a lot increases or if it is very full, more people will opt to carpool, carpool in larger groups, use other lots, park on the street, or use public transportation. Again, why would the city allow an organization that has 20 or so events a year to have a monopoly on parking in that area?
For normal folk I think you are right. My dad was a truck driver and his terminal was inside city limits but he was never IN the city driving so he didn't have to pay the wage tax. But I have a feeling for the sports teams and the low hanging fruit of those salaries the city takes a bite
$20 is a rip off for parking and for a lot of my friends it can be a big reason why they don't go to games. Sure you can find some reasonably priced tickets but then you have to tack on $20 for parking and suddenly its not so reasonable. And this goes for the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers etc. because I understand they charge $20 as well. I don't blame people for parking in lots that have "undercut the team on the price to park", in fact if I knew someone didn't have a parking pass I would encourage them to do just that. It would be a travesty if there was literally nowhere to park other than the teams $20 per game lots. Not everyone can afford to get season tickets and the free parking pass that comes with them.
I remember in 2009 the city got a nice windfall from taking wage tax from the Yankees. Philly absolutely targets athletes like that.
Amen to that. I make very, very little at my job. My ability to go to games is already limited. That extra 10 bucks means a lot to me.
http://www.phila.gov/Revenue/businesses/taxes/Pages/WageTax.aspx pretty much if you earn more than $350 a month in the city you owe and either your company is registered and withholds it or you're required to do it. So if your one day meeting is less than that threshold, no sweat. Most athletes would trigger it.
Also-- how dare Chester allow free parking on city streets? Why anger millionaires that take every opportunity they can to evade their tax responsibilities?
a lot of people park in the lot under the ramp because the attendants literally stand in the middle of the road waving you in. most games I have to steer around them to get to lot B.
If the Union are upset about cheap parking in nearby cheap real estate then they clearly failed business class. Business 101: real estate prices are determined by market demand The union chose Chester because it had cheap real estate. The developers promised to build a development. Didn't build development that would have drove up real estate and now they are upset they are surrounded by cheap real estate, that is being used for parking. all that to say, i don't really care what their issues are with Chester and parking. I just want to see a plan developed for a quality practice facility so we don't look like a cut rate MLS team.
I spend ten dollars to park behind a church. They're giving me the free parking pass, but I plan to only use that if the weather is awful. Otherwise, I'm going to keep giving my money to the church.
I don't park in the PPL lots because it is so inconvenient getting out. We always stay for a few minutes after the final whistle and it takes a half hour or more to get out of Lots B or C. By parking on the street, it's a breeze to get to the Bridge back to NJ and it has saved me $350-400 per year so far. Even with free parking in the stadium lots this season, I'm still not going to park in them.
You and @Handsome Pete are obviously the problem. You single handedly are preventing the Union to build all they need to build and to make money! Shame on both of you.
I guess I just find it gross that the Union would grouse about Chester's city government when tax time comes, yet they constantly want to roll out the PR machine whenever they have Chester United picture day or "paint a fence in a playground day" or whatever. It's bad enough that trying to bully a depressed municipality is considered "smart business," but they don't have to be hypocritical while they're at it.
It's particularly ironic that our rich, finance-oriented owners are pissed that Chester's parking entrepreneurs have decided to engage in a little bit of capitalism.
I find it laughable that people on this forum think that when it comes to building this team and acquiring players the team is "cheap" and "not financially well off enough to compete with other teams" but when we talk about taxes, relations with the city of Chester and the whole parking lots thing they're suddenly a bunch of rich businessmen trying to rip off a poor city. So are they rich, or rich but not rich enough, or are they not rich enough for MLS but too rich for Chester?
yes. you got it. You can be rich enough to buy a team and "blow your load" or be rich and cheap. You would think if they have hundreds of millions for stadiums, buildings, buying team rights etc. 500k would be a drop in the bucket.
I'm personally not one of ones who say they're cheap and broke, I just think they've been in a bad roster situation for the past two years. The city of Chester isn't in any way blameless re: taxes, but for the Union to try and get the city to shut down parking lots on churches and private property is ridiculous and petty.
The Union being mad when people park on the street/'unauthorized' lots would be like the Phillies getting mad at people who take the El.
jesus christ this isn't about people parking behind a church or in some dudes yard. It is about ONE lot, that is directly under the ramps for the bridge. The lot that does a good job of making it look like an official lot of the team. The team does not care about any of the people parking in yards or anything like that, that money goes directly into the pockets of chester residents. This is about the big lot.