I wrote the original message to which Sean Pickett responded:
>
> > I would have The Whittemore winning hands down.  Actually, I'm not
> > all that fond of Walter Brown.  It has the worst parking problems of
> > any Hockey East facility, being orders of magnitude worse than most
> > others.
>
> Actually, Northeastern has far more serious parking problems than BU.
>  Besides having very little on street parking near Matthews Arena,
> you have to pay to park in the nearby lots and garages.  Furthermore,
> the BSO is usually performing at Symphany Hall, two blocks from
> Matthews Arena, and that makes the parking problem even more severe.
>
 
My primary parking criteria are:
 
1) Am I guaranteed to find *something*?
2) Is it free?
distant 3rd) Is it convenient?  (i.e. long walk, quick to get out)
 
Walter Brown is the only facility where I've gotten there half an hour before
the game and had to worry about finding *something*.  The lot was full and I
drove around for a long time before I was lucky to see someone pulling out
of a spot.  I was willing to park a ways away from the rink but it seemed that
as soon as I left the immediate vicinity of Walter Brown, all there was was
parking for those with resident stickers.
 
I'm not crazy about having to pay at the garage next to Matthews, but at least
I know I can find a place.
 
> As for BU, it has free parking in a lot next to Walter Brown Arena,
> and although it does fill up, I find the parking at BU better than at
> UMass Lowell Forum when they have played BU the past two years.  And
> at least at BU you can usually get out of the lot/street parking
> quicker than at the Forum after a game.
>
 
True.  Tully *is* slow to empty after a game, but so are a lot of rinks.  Its
main lot has got to be 2-3 times the size of BU's lot and even when it fills
up, there's parking on the other side of 129.  This is still *far* easier than
at BU.  As for being slow to empty after a game, that is true of many others,
including UNH.  The only reason BU is quick to empty after a game is that the
lot is so small and everyone else is so widely spread out.
 
But I'd rather not be defending Tully too much.  I'm glad a new rink is on the
way.
 
> At New Hamphire, most of the parking lots for the Whittemore Center
> are a long walk from the rink, as you have to walk to the road, up
> stairs, over the railroad tracks, then back down on the other side
> and to the arena.
>
 
I didn't think the walk was *that* long, except, of course, for the handicapped
or terminally lazy.   :-)  And I was walking it in the middle of a bad
snowstorm.  Considering that the parking is free and you're guaranteed to find
a spot, I didn't have a real problem with it.
 
DaveH
 
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