Stranded – Sun Sets on Cars in Park After Dark
Do you know what time the sun sets?
The answer could determine whether your vehicle ends up trapped, with no easy way out, behind a locked parking lot gate at Coral Reef Park in Palmetto Bay.
In recent weeks, several park users have come back to their cars, only to find the sole exit from the park’s westernmost lot chained and locked, with no park personnel in sight to unlock the gate.
Residents riled when cars are locked in at Coral Reef Park
After calling a phone number posted on the gate, then waiting 30 minutes for help that never came, one irate motorist removed a section of fence, allowing the five cars to escape.
Other park users report similar situations.
Official signage states that the park closes at “sunset.” Therein lies the problem.
Unless park employees are relying on some type of scientific solar chart, it is likely they do what we all usually do – look to the sky and guess when the sun is setting!
A solution seems simple: pick a specific, set time to lock the gates and post that time for all park users to see.
Indeed, in the past few days, park employees have been locking Coral Reef Park’s west parking lot gate at 6:30pm.
There’s just one problem – the racquetball and tennis courts are open most nights until 10pm.
The Village’s solution is to keep the parking lot east of the courts open until 10:15pm, and lock the lot closest to the bathrooms and the court reservation office. This makes little sense to residents like Barbara Ligman.
“If I want to rent a tennis court, I have to park at the far end of the courts and walk the entire length to the pro shop to check in and pay for my court,” says Ligman. “It would be much simpler to park next to the pro shop.” (Not to mention, much safer than walking alone in the dark!)
Montes and Ligman have emailed the Village Manager and the Parks Director seeking clarification of the village’s policies.
Neither woman has received a response.
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Check out what others are saying about this post...[...] Its absurd that one gate is open and one gate is closed! Who makes the operational decisions for Palmetto Bay Parks and how can they get changed? Are the residents needs taken into consideration? Thats the sentiment at the courts. Take a look at this and let your elected council know how ridiculous this is! Parking Problems [...]
[...] Its absurd that one gate is open and one gate is closed! Who makes the operational decisions for Palmetto Bay Parks and how can they get changed? Are the residents needs taken into consideration? Thats the sentiment at the courts. Take a look at this and let your elected council know how ridiculous this is! Parking Problems [...]