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Friendliness ends at parking lot
(by Barbara Christian - June 11, 2009)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Friendliness ends at parking lot
A while back, someone showed us a clipping from an old Chagrin Falls newspaper. The story had to do with parking and the lack thereof in our town. Now, that could have been written anytime in the past 60 years or so, but this story was about parking for horse-drawn wagons around Triangle Park.
We remember little else about the story except for the historic irony.
Parking has been an issue in Chagrin Falls forever. Recently, a letter writer took issue with the unfriendly "keep out" signs posted on private parking lots around the village during the Blossom Time-Memorial Day weekend. He viewed the signs as self defeating to the local economy.
Our letter writer also took issue with store proprietors who do not allow their bathrooms to be used by the public.
Next year, he said, he would open a shop in the village and offer free parking and restrooms to anyone who needs them. He opined that those who use his facilities may end up buying something from his store.
He may have hit on a great idea, and he wouldn't need to sell anything except public toilets and parking spots. Of course, he would need to knock down some buildings to do it, but it could be a going enterprise (pun intended).
The business could be called "Necessities" or, better yet, the "Chagrin Falls Park 'n Go." But how would he make money on the deal, unless he charged for parking and billed on a per-flush basis or each square of toilet paper required. "We can spare a square" might be a good motto and a direct steal from the Seinfeld, "Can you spare a square?" episode, in which Elaine is stuck in a public toilet ... oh, never mind.
But I digress. What our letter writer didn't know was that there was a bright spot during the jam-packed weekend, and it had to do with generosity of the Chagrin Falls Shopping Plaza. For the first time in many years, there was no roped-off area for "customers only" parking. So while the plaza parking lot was full, the stores were not. That should score high on our letter writer's friendly meter.
It's nice to think that parking should be on a first-come-first-served basis, but what happens to the customers, clients, patients and church goers with time-specific appointments when parking is nowhere to be found? Their bill of rights is spelled out in those "keep out" signs.
In the long run, our letter writer should be happy it was just the "keep out" signs he came in contact with and not the horrifying practice one parking-lot owner chose to discourage Blossom Time revelers and their cars. That person roped off an area for customers, except the rope was strung too low, and it clothes-lined an innocent bike rider shortcutting through the lot. The bike rider was a hometown resident too. Now, that's cold.
It might even go from rude to common pleas court. From what the police blotter noted, it does not sound like the bike rider was going to press charges. He was, after all, able to walk into the police station to report the incident, albeit four days after his brush with road rash.
He told the cops he just wanted to have it on record. That should be fair warning for next year.
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