THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 18, 1995 TAG: 9507180005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
On July 5, my wife and I parked our car on 24th Street in Virginia Beach and walked down to the 24th Street Park for an enjoyable evening of listening to the musical performance by the Tidewater Winds. There were signs warning of it being a tow-away zone after 8 p.m., but since we thought that the ``Music of America'' would be over by then, we anticipated no problems.
However when 8:30 rolled around and it looked as if there would be another 30 minutes of music, we decided not to push our luck and returned to our car. You guessed it. Two police officers were busily writing tickets. Luckily, we were two blocks beyond their beginning point and were not ticketed.
However, several Hampton Roads musicians who had also parked in the same area couldn't leave until the music was over and most likely were given tickets or had their cars towed. Like us, they thought there would be some leniency in the vicinity of the park area at least until the show was over.
While there should be parking limitations, the 8 p.m. time is too restrictive. Also, the participants of the shows shouldn't be punished for donating their time. Parking facilities should be made available to them.
A. J. FRIELLO
Virginia Beach, July 7, 1995 by CNB