Parking Revolution

My father would rather go to the dentist than give his car to a valet parker. He lives in the Chicago area, where valet parking isn’t so much a luxury as a necessity. He’s never had to give his car to a valet parker in Champaign-Urbana, because there was never any valet parking service around, at least not for a public place.

Not for long. As reported in Sunday’s News-Gazette, C-U’s newest upscale steakhouse, Jim Gould Restaurant, will start offering the service sometime after it opens on May 4. The restaurant is located in the 1 Main complex in downtown Champaign, long documented as a parking-challenged area. But the area has been booming regardless of its parking problems.

The introduction of valet parking into the Champaign-Urbana marketplace is certainly a milestone, of what kind I’m not exactly sure, but a milestone nonetheless. Now that the valet floodgates are soon to open, who knows where it will lead. Valet parking at Assembly Hall? Marketplace Mall? Custard Cup? Illini Union?