Handicapped parking in a medical center, versus "private parking" spaces for one business.
Today I took mom for her eye dr apt, and something I have noticed before really got me thinking. Her eye dr is a huge freestanding building along with several other businesses, and the handicapped parking is not close to the doors at all. But right in front of the door are 4 spaces labeld Private parking for XXX Vascular center, violators will be towed. Just crossed my mind that if I pulled into one of those suckers and hung the handicapped pass, could I really be towed? After all, I can park at any meter in MD and hang that pass and be free and clear, don't even need to pay the meter. And how does the vascular center get these spaces, when the other Drs do not and have plenty of elderly patients? I asked the staff at the eye dr, and they said they sort of wondered about that too. I thought handicapped parking was regulated? Sort of makes me want to call the local police station and ask about this. Has anyone else had this happen? Any thoughts? BTW my DD goes to this vascular center at 31, and she is much more able to trot across the parking lot than my 89 YO rollator bound mother, or the wheelchair bound I see in the eye drs! BTW these spaces used to be handicapped a few years ago.
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One particular doctor I take my mother to has a large parking lot and there has never been an available handicap parking spot when I have been there with her. I always have to drop her off in the front with her walker and then park. My mother is also 89. The whole building is medically related and there are a number of handicap spaces but they are always taken.
I think you should find someone to address this to. There at times can be a sense of worth to complaining even if it makes you feel better by making a valid point.
An REA establishes rental terms, number of parking spaces, maintenance and snow removal of the common areas, proportionate real estate tax payments, and all other terms of the developer's operation of the mall, and the tenants use of the facilities leased.
I don't recall the ratios, but in smaller malls, such as strip malls, communities required specific numbers of spaces allocated, which varied by the tenant and type of business. E.g., fast food companies which typically purchased an "outlot" would be allocated a certain number of parking spaces, as would a larger eat-in restaurant, or another type of business.
This was done in the planning stage.
I don't recall addressing how many of those spaces would be allocated for each tenant, or how the tenant would be able to use them. I'm guessing though that each lease addresses this and it varies by tenant. It may also be that each tenant has the choice in how to allocate the spaces, reserving some for big wigs and hot shots, and the remainder for the clientele (patients).
That's my best guess; I haven't read any REAs since the early 1990s, and things may have changed, especially allocation of parking spaces to general public vs. handicapped.
I do recall that in some instances allocated parking spaces didn't meet community building department requirements, so the buildings and outbuildings sometimes had to be reconfigured to add enough spaces to meet standards.
Call your local police and ask them if you would get towed using a handicapped placard when you chose to park in what is essentially a private parking area reserved for a specific office’s patients.
I myself see plenty of handicapped parking everywhere I go including in a large MD office building.
Those vascular patients could have a very difficult time walking which is why the specialist took the time to arrange for those 4 dedicated slots. It’s only f.o.u.r. spaces!
IMO it’s unreasonable to pursue a discussion with building management at all- just honor their space.
Those spots aren’t for the staff of the vascular office either. They are for the patients of that office.
I know that is not a solution for all situations, sometimes it is not possible for a variety of reasons to drop off the patient and leave them on their own.
I would guess in OP's example, the vascular surgeons, knowing that their patients will have strictly limited mobility, have arranged with the owners of the building, or they could be the owners, to have those spots reserved for their patients.
Any time my folks had an eye doctor appointment, I would have to leave them off at the door, thus get out Dad's rolling walker, and hope my parents would go inside the lobby to sit down to wait while I look for parking in the back north 40.
And why do Staff park in the up close spaces?? Come on now, parking a few spaces over to leave some open spaces for clients would be a better idea. We do that at my building which has retail on the main level.
But if it's a private car park, I really wouldn't try cocking a snook at the rules - you're sure to get towed, yes (there's a huge, profitable racket going on in private parking enforcement services) and it won't be worth the fight.
You could also try to find out who manages the whole facility, and propose that they construct a drop off & collection point. Then patients can be driven right up to the door and taken into reception before their escorts go and park the car.
This isn't going to help people who are disabled but drive themselves to appointments, of course. Ummmm... Again, get the facility managers onto that one. They should be able to set up some kind of scheme for frequent visitors.
I've noticed that new medical buildings in this area are avoiding ground parking space limitations by creating multi-structured parking lots. These aren't new by any standards, but previously had been used more for multi story hospitals with adjacent medical facilities.
One advantage is that patients can transfer from their vehicles to elevators, which open directly on a first floor of the building or hospital. So they avoid exposure to inclement weather.
The AA VA has the best solution: a driver who makes the rounds in the parking structure, picking up patients (and wheelchairs, rollators and walkers and caregivers) and delivering them directly to the building entrance of the medical center.
lot attendant & most attendants will say something if you park in a designated spot and then head to a different business. Each state has laws for private property tows and you can’t just be towed away.