THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 4, 1995 TAG: 9509040027
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
As Labor Day dawns today, the Police Department is bracing for the last night of an enormous traffic headache that has all but closed sections of the resort to motorists this weekend.
During the day, when the American Music Festival's marquee bands perform at the Fifth Street stage under blue skies, police are finding resort traffic intense but manageable.
But by nightfall, with untold thousands of visitors intent on cruising the town, the situation worsens, forcing police to launch an elaborate traffic control plan that occasionally closes access to roads in an ever-expanding zone.
Many visitors, unaware that cruising has been outlawed along Virginia Beach's Atlantic Avenue for three years, are finding their efforts frustrated by officers who force them to make a series of right turns that leaves them exactly where they started.
About 30 people were arrested Saturday night for various crimes, including public drunkenness and disorderly conduct, but nothing out of the ordinary given the huge number of people visiting the Oceanfront this weekend, police said Sunday. An exact accounting of the offenses was not available.
``I listened to the police radio until about 1:30 a.m. (Sunday), and from what I heard it sounded like a pretty peaceable night,'' said department spokesman Lou Thurston.
Capt. Ernest F. Buzzy Sr., commanding officer of the 2nd Precinct, which oversees the resort strip, had prepared for large Labor Day crowds. His officers, he said, would keep in mind the summer credo that has guided much of their law enforcement efforts this year: ``be fair, firm, but friendly.''
With an estimated 2 million visitors to the resort this year, even this genial approach to law enforcement produces hard results.
From April 15 to June 30, for example, the department recorded 5,144 charges and summonses in an area bounded by the Boardwalk, Arctic Avenue, Rudee Inlet and 40th Street.
Traffic violations represented 67 percent of that figure, which is expected to swell after this weekend's numbers are tallied. Most traffic violations were for cruising, lacking a city decal or inspection sticker, and having improper equipment, Buzzy said.
Thirty felony charges had been recorded by June 30, and that figure, too, is expected to rise after this weekend.
Police presence has remained visibly heavy throughout the weekend. Virginia Beach officers can be found seemingly on every block, at every corner and often in groups of four or more. Further help has been available from the Virginia State Police, which is handling some traffic duties, while Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office deputies are on hand to help with hotel security. A central command post for all law enforcement agencies has been set up inside the Pavilion.
But the clear focus of law enforcement this weekend is traffic control, and not everyone has been happy.
Mustafa Hassan, a 56-year-old visitor from Petersburg, offered this analogy for the resort's traffic problems: ``The toothpaste is out of the tube for Virginia Beach. The problems here are the same for every other urban area in America. There are too many cars. They, like other cities, should have planned for it 30 years ago. But they didn't.''
Still, Hassan said the traffic is ``manageable'' if drivers plan on walking.
But not everyone is so forgiving. Some, like Jeffrey Thames of Baltimore, sounded confused when he tried to negotiate the streets.
``It stinks,'' said Thames, an electrical engineer who came here this weekend for the first time since 1990. ``We can't figure out where to go. When we go down one street, they tell us to turn right and go someplace else. Then when we go there, they say, turn right again.''
Thames, 32, and his companion, Cheryl Robb, a computer analyst, decided the best solution was to get a hotel in Norfolk and simply visit the resort strip on foot.
The Police Department's traffic management plan Saturday night began with closing part of Atlantic Avenue, which has been typical this summer on weekends.
By 11 p.m., long before the bars and restaurants had closed, the police closed the entire street and began directing cars on Pacific Avenue away from the resort. That move was not typical.
At Arctic Avenue, police officers stood by orange traffic cones at key intersections and with flashlights briskly directed cars away from the strip. Countless drivers wanting to drive into the crowded resort were routed away.
When traffic eased, the cones were removed, only to be put back in place when streets began filling up again.
City officials are encouraging motorists to park at the Pavilion for $3 during the day today and use a free shuttle to festival concert areas.
Dawn Norton, a 17-year-old Virginia Beach resident, pulled her compact car into a Pavilion lot that was steadily filling up Sunday morning with people wanting to see Sawyer Brown and The Band.
She had learned the hard way that few spaces, if any, were available near the resort strip.
``I hate parking this far out,'' Norton said. ``But I circled around the strip and all the lots were full.''
Last year, the city instituted a neighborhood parking plan for residents that further restricts where resort visitors can park. Parking on residential streets in the resort area is outlawed from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. except for those displaying a special decal on their vehicle. Launched with some controversy last year, the program has gained support from many residents.
Emory L. ``Sonny'' Rose Jr. is among them.
``I've been here 45 years,'' said Rose, who lives in the 500 block of 24th St. ``This is the first summer that I can remember when I can sleep at night with the windows open and not hear car doors slamming, or people going to the bathroom in my yard and all the other disturbances that go on around here.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MORT FRYMAN, Staff
Atlantic Avenue, Saturday night: Mayor Meyera Oberndorf and husband
Roger, chatting with members of the police chaplain corps.
Beach officers head back to the 2nd Precinct. To handle Labor Day
traffic, more city and state police than usual are on duty.
Graphic
Festival facts\ What else you should know
KEYWORDS: AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL TRAFFIC LABOR DAY by CNB