At the state and national level, the politics of this place is
really conservative. Fannin County voted overwhelmingly for Romney in the last
presidential election. It is rare to see an Obama sticker on a car with a
Fannin County license plate. Most of the bumper stickers on local cars and
trucks are pro-Second Amendment, pro-Life, pro-religion, anti-Obama, and
anti-government. Instead of a Coexist sticker, you are more likely to see a
Kill Them All sticker. “Don’t Tread On Me” appears to be the dominant theme.
That should be no surprise. The independent,
anti-government, stay out of my business attitude exhibited in these parts goes
back a long ways. The Scotch-Irish hill people who populated this area left
their homelands to escape British tyranny and British excise taxes on their
whiskey. In the Civil War many southern mountain people supported the Union. Some
did so out of patriotism for the Union but many were rebelling against the
oppressive and intrusive hand of the Confederate government. It wasn’t that
they preferred to be governed by Washington rather than Richmond as much as
they didn’t want much government at all.
Local politics is not driven by party affiliation. That’s
probably because a liberal Democrat does not have a snowball’s chance in hell of
being elected. Thus, local elections always pit one conservative against
another, and local political issues seem to be driven by conflict between the
old-timers and the new arrivals and new ideas versus the old way of doing
things.
The most recent hubbub in the City of Blue Ridge was over
parking. Blue Ridge has become a tourist destination for people from Atlanta
and elsewhere, particularly Florida, who visit to enjoy the weather, the
scenery, the lake, the train and the downtown.
The brouhaha started when the Downtown Merchants Association
started talking about the need to create more parking in the downtown to handle
the tourists. (I don’t want you to get the idea that because the merchants
chose to identify themselves as the Downtown Merchants Association there
are uptown merchants. This is not Gotham City. The entire downtown and uptown of
Blue Ridge consists of four streets about six blocks long.)
A new city councilmember, Angi Arp, reacted by placing a
half page ad in the local paper saying that the city needed more revenue to
address the parking issue and suggested that the city put in parking meters. I
have no idea why she raised the idea in such a public manner. What followed can
only be described as a huge shit storm. It appears that Ms. Arp was the only person
in North America who thought that placing parking meters in downtown Blue Ridge
was a good idea.
The merchants association countered with a full page ad saying
that Arp’s parking meter idea would drive off tourists, be bad for business and
cause the demise of western civilization as we know it. To paraphrase Chevy
Chase in his old Saturday Night Live routine, the ad all but shouted, “Angi,
you ignorant slut.”
Arp, realizing she had stepped in it, beat a hasty retreat
by publishing a conciliatory ad saying that she was willing to work with all
facets of the community to address the parking problem in a way that benefited
all city residents. The ad was her version of Rodney King’s “can’t we all get
along” speech.
Both sides seem to agree there is a parking problem in
downtown Blue Ridge. As far as I can tell, this conclusion is based on
subjective judgment rather than a professional traffic study which is the
accepted way that traffic and parking issues are identified by planning
professionals.
I’m not sure what the exact nature of the parking problem
is. Is the problem that tourists may have to walk a block or two to get to the
downtown stores or the train on a normal day? Is the problem that there is not
enough parking spaces to accommodate a thousand cars when there is a weekend
festival? To me, these are two vastly different problems requiring different
solutions.
All I know is I have never encountered a problem finding a
parking space in downtown Blue Ridge. But then I don’t expect to be able to
park right in front of my intended destination, and I don’t mind walking a
block or two to get where I’m going. In fact, I enjoy walking in the downtown.
It brings a smile to my face to walk down the streets of a small town with a
park in the middle, benches on the sidewalks, and a feed store with a big
turkey out front.
I assume that the small town experience is part of the
reason tourists come to Blue Ridge. If they want to shop without leaving their
seats I suggest they use the internet. If they want to experience a small town
without moving a muscle I suggest they watch reruns of the Andy Griffith Show.
That being said, I’ve observed some fat assed tourists
waddling down the local streets. I’ve seen some butts big enough to cause a
solar eclipse. Thus, I have no trouble believing that some downtown merchants
have received complaints about the parking from out of shape tourists who think
that getting up to find the TV remote is exercise. The question is whether lazy
overweight tourists constitute a parking problem.
I don’t know how this perceived issue will be resolved. All
I know is that parking meters, parking garages, or shuttle parking from remote
parking lots will start to change this town from what it is into something I
was trying to escape in moving here. I like Blue Ridge the way it is, and if
that means walking a couple of blocks to get where I’m going, I’m fine with
that.
Personal note: The next post will be delayed. A last minute
chance arose for my two boys and me to go to a small island in the Bahamas on a
friend’s boat for a few days fishing. You got to have your priorities when
you’re retired!
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