Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 27, 1994 TAG: 9403290148
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Gordon Barbour had a warning for a man who parked illegally in the 100 block of Church Avenue Southwest and came into Texas Tavern to sit beside a parking cop.
``You're going to get a ticket,'' said Barbour, the Tavern's manager.
The man ignored the warning as the officer finished his meal and calmly walked to the curb, pulled out his ticket book and starting writing.
``That son of a bwrote me a ticket,'' the disbelieving man stormed.
Barbour had seen that reaction many time before. In Roanoke's Car Wars, the 100 block of Church Avenue ranks at the top of downtown streets where high-dollar fines are imposed.
The bare statistics: $50 fire-lane violations in the block netted the city about $15,000 in 1993 alone. The block was the overall money leader, with $26,665 in violations written.
Jim Bullington, the Tavern's owner, said the plight of parkers along the curbside reveals a deeper-seated problem.
``There is a different mentality with a human being with a car,'' he said.
Simply put, parkers lose their minds.
To combat the insanity, Bullington and Barbour have taken the battle to the trenches.
The parking lot of Texas Tavern is adorned with signs warding off noncustomers, who will do just about anything for a free parking space.
Once, a well-dressed businessman rolled calmly into the Tavern lot and fidgeted with his tie for a half-hour until he thought the coast was clear. Seeing no one, he jumped from his car and headed toward Luck Avenue on a dead run.
Bullington called to him in midstride.
``Hey,'' he yelled. ``No parking.''
The dejected-looking man knew he'd been caught.
Even those who have been forewarned sometimes don't want to accept the consequences.
A $10 ticket caused one customer to demand that the Tavern pay it. When Barbour refused, the man stayed away for more than a decade.
Bullington says time means little to renegade parkers.
``All the parkers are one-minute parkers,'' he said. ``That minute turns into an hour.''
In seconds, police will nab a parker who settles in a nearby fire lane, one of the largest in the city.
Barbour, a former Roanoke firefighter, is aware of the dangers if fire trucks are blocked by people parking for convenience.
When government checks come out at the first of the month, the fire lane fills up as people come to the banks seeking cash.
``They're hanging out the windows waiting to get paid,'' Bullington said.
Texas Tavern on occasion has gone to issuing its own tickets if downtown parkers fill up its spaces.
``We're not running a parking lot,'' Bullington said.
Barbour said the battle of the cars once led him into a confrontation with an FBI agent whose car was towed from the Tavern's lot.
His policy is simple.
``Cooks, bakers and FBI agents, everybody's got to pay.''
by CNB