UPDATED: The Plaza off-limits for Obama event parking
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From staff reports
Published: August 20, 2008
People attending Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign stop at E.C. Glass High School tonight will not be allowed to park in The Plaza.
“Anyone planning on attending the Obama event scheduled for this evening at the E. C. Glass gym should be aware of a change in parking arrangements,“ city officials said in a news release. “Parking will not be allowed at the Plaza on Memorial Avenue. Satellite parking has been arranged at Lynchburg City Stadium on the Fort Avenue side of the parking lot. Buses will shuttle attendees to E. C. Glass beginning at 3:30 p.m. Shuttles will return attendees back to the City Stadium after the event.“
The shuttle fleet will be made up of six school buses making continuous loops between the two sites, according to JoAnn Martin, director of communications for the city. The buses will likely stop running around 7 p.m. and then resume operation following the town hall’s conclusion to return attendees to their cars.
The Plaza is owned by Liberty University.
“There was no conversation at all,“ said Lee Beaumont, director of auxiliary services. “... Nobody bothered to talk to us about it.“
He added LU had multiple concerns about allowing the event parking, including the impact on tenants of the midtown shopping center and the school’s liability if an accident were to occur. There were also apprehensions about how the participation would affect the school’s status as a 501(3)(c) organization, a designation that prohibits partisanship.
The school has previously invited Obama to speak at its campus, and has played host to former presidential candidates, including Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul.
“When you only have half a day or a day to react to something, you can’t make a good decision,“ Beaumont said, adding the school based its decision on practical concerns.
“We’re not trying to make a political statement,“ he said.
LU notified local police of their decision this morning. The school plans to post signs and have campus police on hand to alert drivers to the change. The security officers will explain to drivers that Plaza parking is reserved for patrons, Beaumont said.
Martin said the city only learned this morning the Plaza would be off-limits for event parking.
“It was our understanding arrangements had been made (with The Plaza),“ she said. “We were told by the local campaign there would be parking there, and that was also printed on their tickets. I think they were operating under the assumption that was public property.
“The only reason the city got involved,“ Martin said, “was because it would be a public safety issue to have that many people there trying to park in a place they were not going to be able to park in.“
Police officers will be on scene to direct traffic, and electronic sign boards will be posted as well. Martin said she believed all parking on school grounds has been reserved for campaign staff, media, and those attending freshman orientation.
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( ceecee ) on August 24, 2008 at 12:30 pm
What is wrong with the picture you see when reading (looksee’s) comments? He or she spouts phrases that are at opposite poles to each other. It sounds as though there is hate or contempt on one hand, then speaking of Gabriel blowing his horn on the other. He sounds as though he needs some of LU’sdevine teachings.You can not run hot and cold at the same time,you can’t speak as though you hate someone and be a true believer. God hates the sin,but loves the sinner.I hope Looksee gets his heart straight before Gabriel does blow his horn.
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Posted by ( damalama ) on August 24, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I am posting this in every forum so hopefully the people this is directed at might be able to see it. I drove past Toys R Us to get a look for my self this morning, at what others had posted to see if it was true. They are right! That parking lot was full of vehicles with people getting out of them in church clothes. But the one thing that really made me smile, was that I saw Lynchburg Citizens standing at the entrance of Toys R Us that looked like they were really giving grief to the ones that were making that short walk, as well as WSET there with a reporter and a camera man. Almost made me laugh when I saw a few brainwashed members walking at a fast pace past the reporter standing there with a mic in his hand. Be sure to cover that face with that BIBLE you preach about but don’t follow next time! BRAVO to the CITIZENS OUT THERE DOING THAT. I didn’t get to see the story on WSET but if it is about what everyone is complaining about, then you have a loyal watcher for years to come!
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Posted by ( scrivsand ) on August 23, 2008 at 10:57 pm
looksee!! You are awesome and I agree!! freedom I hope you are a democrat you are bring the curve down for the whole city!!
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Posted by ( looksee ) on August 22, 2008 at 11:10 am
(freedom) i see that you are still pressing the wrong keys huh? But i digress….first of all, you bunch of baby killing, ignorant back woods law breaking, inbred demon-crats, can you say…ITS THE LAW STUPID!? i can see it now LU allows this evil party to park for free and one of those lil obama shirt wearing buggers falls or gets hurt in some way…CAN YOU SAY ...LAW-SUIT!? I thank God for LU and the wonderful influence they have had on this sin laden city, may they be on that hill until Gabriel blows the trumpet, it’s then your knee will bow to God ...not obama!
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Posted by ( ducky ) on August 22, 2008 at 4:20 am
One dollar- it would of taken one dollar for LU to let people park and not violate the law. Greed and Gluttony you go Jerry Jr. The newscast of your comments was a great look at your money grubbing- a good neighbor no- a good christen no way. Mobbster yes
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Posted by ( hawney1111 ) on August 21, 2008 at 11:49 am
we all know why people cant park at the plaza and it has nothing to do with taxes,it has to do with small minded people at lu,it would have been good for the stores at the plaza to have people there,it could have meant business for them,but they didnt think about that just themselves thats all they ever think of,not about the rest of lburg,if they di they would not have defaced the mountain with that gross lu sign,looks to me like the sons are going to be worse than the father
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Posted by ( lynchman ) on August 20, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I bet Rev Wright would have let him park on his lot. Then again maybe not after he was dissed for his comments(I guess if you think LU is backward you probably will think Wright is right) I would have to say they had aleast one badd student a VT a little while ago.
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Posted by ( Jenny Poore ) on August 20, 2008 at 10:33 pm
to forest user:
i think a lot of people associated with the campaign incorrectly assumed that the plaza was public parking because the library is located there. i think most people not intimately familiar with the area would be very surprised to know that LU owns a giant chunk of vacant property in the midtown area with the Lynchburg Public Library sitting on it. it’s not like it looks like a shopping center. there are no stores there. it’s just a bunch of empty parking spaces next to the library and the city bus hub. it’s not a stretch to think those spaces are city owned. LU does a fine job of making itself looks bad. it doesn’t need the Obama campaign for that.
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Posted by ( JD_RIVERMONT ) on August 20, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Who gives a damn about where Obama supporters can park? I don�t care if it were for McCain supporters? It�s not like either man is qualified to lead our nation back to greatness. Once again, we are left to decide between the lesser of two evils. I remain undecided but I�ll tell you what my new criterion for president is: I will vote for whom I believe can do the least amount of damage in their four year term. I hope to God I am wrong but on one hand, we have a man who has been in politics too long, has too much power in DC and who�s voting record will probably come to haunt him w/ in the next few months and worse, if he�s elected, haunt us for four years and much more. On the other hand, we have a guy who is promising what I consider to be a pipe-dream seeing as how he has very little experience getting anything accomplished on a national and/ or global level. Right now, words and moving speaches don�t mean a thing to me�I�m not falling for it. Charisma gets us a cigar, an intern and an impeachment. Back to my point�the problem is that the city, err. Craddock Terry BURG, decided to allow this to happen in the eleventh hour even though we had freshman orientation scheduled well in advance. Uh, priorities? Damn it C.T.burg!!! Get focused. School comes first, especially since we have to take time off from our busy days to be parents and now we have to fight for parking spaces and sanity from all of this great big distraction. Yes, my daughter was very distracted as I am sure many other kids were too. Positive note: E.C. Glass and LPD, you did a great job keeping the non-sense at bay. T.C. Burg, you could have sent Obama to Heritage H.S. (oh wait, that is not an inner city school, that wouldn�t work). Bottom-line, the city better start making better decisions that have the tax payer�s best interests in mind. I am sick and tired of the decisions being made�who the hell are these people? I want names and numbers!!! Their asses work for me, not Obama, they work for all of us city tax payers.
WHEW����I�m done.
Thanks for letting me vent Lynchburg�I feel better now.
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Posted by ( damalama ) on August 20, 2008 at 8:57 pm
get-a-life your comment is so dumb in so many ways it’s as stupid as LU’s excuse of closing the plaza. where to begin?! well others in this forum have addressed it by LU’s continually having Republican’s come and speak at their schools the article even says that!! afraid of losing their tax exemption?? they abuse that everyday, with the slow purchase of lynchburg each piece of land bought in the name of the church and then sold to retailers to build, every day that falwell and junior get up their and preacher about politics, i attended once and sat there and listened to senior describe democrats as mentally ill and we should pray god cured them of that illness. they are afraid of liability if an accident occurs on their property?!?!?!?!....um okay, well then i guess they need to close the movie theatre, and every other store there because i am sure people get backed into there all the time.
the article itself says that they had invited obama to speak there before, what were they going to do then if he accepted, you know exactly what they would have done, bragged about it and limited it to just students and people of associated with LU! they are just mad that obama doesn’t want his named associated with the disgusting school that is LU and that pathetic student body that is an absolute joke. arguing with a brain washed TRBCer or jerry kid is absolutely pointless, but amusing to just be baffled at the absolute narrow mindness of them.
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