Parking Problems for LaVergne Voters

Took my baby girl to a class tonight and was immediately pulled aside by one of the parents who knows I am one of the authors of this LaVergne blog. She asked me to report what happened today at the LaVergne Civic Auditorium on Old Nashville Highway. The lines were long and there was no traffic control. It was also raining, so people couldn't park in the grass. Instead, they parked on the side street.

After waiting in line for nearly an hour, the men in blue came in and announced that if voters didn't move their cars, the cars would be towed. Defiant, my friend stood her place in line. Unfortunately, many people left and didn't come back.

It is a real concern that LaVergne voters may have been disenfranchised. We do understand that there is a code in place to prevent folks from parking in the street, but on election day I would hope there would be some leniency. This is just a suggestion, but why not conduct another study to balance out the voting (city hall was empty when one person voted - he then drove by the civic center and it was packed with no parking anywhere). Or how about assigning some of our city police officers to help direct traffic on election days? Or how about moving the location of voting to churches where parking is plentiful?

And for "anonymous" ... this is not a newspaper. We are not reporters. This is a blog. To quote Worldpress.com, "Bloggers provide nearly-instant commentary on televised events, creating a secondary meaning of the word 'blogging' — to simultaneously transcribe and editorialize speeches and events shown on television." Read more about it here.