AHSAA Tournament Goers Fight for Parking at Civic Center
By: Megan Hunter
Updated: February 19, 2013
Downtown Dothan is packed with people attending the AHSAA basketball tournament, and that crowd is bringing a big problem to light--a lack of parking around the civic center.
City leaders say parking at the civic center is a problem, but are quick to point out that there are over 1,800 parking spaces within two blocks of the civic center.
"At this point in time, we feel that there is adequate parking downtown," said city manager Mike West. "It just might not be right where you want it, (for example) it may not be in front of the business you want to go to. What we are asking people is to be patient. This is a wonderful event to our community and is bringing in a lot of visitors."
But many visitors don't know about those parking spaces, as there are no signs directing them to other parking lots.
"That's an item that we are wanting to address over the next year," said Jansen Tidmore, with the Downtown Dothan Redevelopment Authority. "We want to make sure that we get signage that lets people know where to park. That is something that we do really poorly right now."
The DDRA hopes to get signs put up over the next few months directing traffic to filler parking lots.
The Authority is also hoping to expand parking in the next year by adding more parking lots.
