UPDATED: The Plaza off-limits for Obama event parking

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.