Inconsiderate people are one of my pet peeves, especially when it involved the elderly and disabled.
This past weekend (October 18-19) was Cuba Fest, which brings in many people who aren't regular visitors here. This is good for business and our town in general, however, it is in an area of town that has very little parking and is easily congested with a lot of traffic. It impacts the flow of traffic and parking around our church, Holy Cross. All the parking in front of our church is designated as handicap because we have a large number of elderly and disabled parishioners who are unable to walk greater distances. Some have recently had joint replacement surgery and some need the assistance of wheelchairs. This Sunday, and every year, the handicap parking is all filled up by the time our parishioners get here by 9:30 a.m. The sign in our parish yard states our Mass times, but no one pays any attention to that. When my husband and I arrived at 9:20 a.m., three fourths of our parking lot behind the church was already filled up by non-parishioners and also a great portion of the parking lot near the parish hall. No thought is given to the inconvenience of people who want to attend Mass but have nowhere to park in their own parking lots. The planners of these activities apparently do not give any thought or consideration to other people who simply want to go to church on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
I understand that the reason for having this festival in that location is to bring people to the historical district of town. However, to paraphrase a statement made by a popular movie, "If you build it, they will come." In other words, no matter where you have it, if it's advertised, people will come. Those from out of town may not even know or realize that it's the historical part of town. They don't only come because it's there. Why not have it somewhere that will facilitate large crowds and has plenty of parking. Somewhere like Hood Park. That facility is sitting empty and unused most of the year.I realize my concerns are not the concerns of everyone, but how about being considerate of others who simply want to attend their church services and not have to deal with the public who have taken up their parking areas. After all the street parking is designated as "handicap parking" and the parking lots are private property.
There is public parking along most streets, but the driveway of the rectory might not be an appropriate place to park.
I hope the organizers of this event will think about how they would feel if this happened at their church. How would they feel if their church's parking lot was full of festival goers and booth vendors when they arrived at their regular scheduled worship service?
Our church also has a scheduled Spanish Mass at 11:30 a.m. on the first and third Sundays. So our parking areas are in use by our parishioners until after noon on those Sundays. The 19th was the third Sunday of the month.
Juanita Skyles
Cuba
