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Funeral held at Cedar Street for Dr.Robertson
03/01/2011 7:57 AM by John M
Interestingly enough, taxpayers shelled out for 10 uniformed police officers and cars and an unknown number of plainclothes officers as well to ‘oversee’ the street and traffic situation (from an officer on site). All I’ve heard and read for a long time is how tight Richmond’s budget is, so it’s heartening to know our city is financially sound enough to do have been able to spend that kind of money.
Yes, the folks who live in the area, myself included, were treated to two back to back days of not being able to find parking. I realize that street parking is public (yet, every spot on streets in front of the church is always “reserved”!) and that we all need to get along, but the folks that park near me and walk to church are loud, rude, and tend to litter on the streets. Cedar Street Baptist needs to do something about the parking situation and remind their parishioners to be good neighbors!
Oh, and before everyone goes on a rant attacking my comment in a post that is about the former pastor’s funeral, let me say that I’m not attacking Cedar Street Baptist. I’m just making a comment on the parking situation. I know that Dr Robertson was a very talented, influential man who did lots for the church and the area and his presence will be missed!
My question is WHY the TAXPAYERS should foot the bill for these expenses? This was not a public event…it was a private funeral. There is no reason whatsoever that Cedar Street shouldn’t pay the bill for these services.
Observer, agreed. It’s not just these two days that we’re treated to difficult parking situations but weekly. Often multiple times a week. Additionally, I agree that some of the parishioners are loud, rude, and tend to little (not all, of course).
There are also some that tend to believe that the law doesn’t apply to them. They consistently park in the bus stops and no parking zones (even after they clearly see the signs).
There is constant trash left over on Sundays after the services since every week someone (I assume from the church) puts flyers on everyone’s cars about upcoming activities which I have seen parishioners take off and throw on the ground. Funny, none of Cedar Street’s congregation participates in any neighborhood clean-up efforts.
Cedar Street needs to be a better neighbor. It’s NOT pleasant having to live down the street from all that!
Are you sure Cedar St did not pay the fee for those police officers, or are you all just guessing about it?
As far as trash is concerned, then yes, complain about it to church officials and they may be able to shame people into doing the right thing, but from my observations whenever there is a decent sized gathering of people, trash tends to collect because people forget their home training. Neighbors of Cedar St. just happen to (unfortunately) have weekly gatherings rather that sporadic ones.
LB,
I’m just guessing on the police of course…my guess, though, is that they didn’t pay for them.
As far as trash is concerned, the congregation needs to be SHAMED into doing the right thing? Really? They just left church for heaven’s sake! I guess the sermons really stick with them a while, huh? What would God do?
Funny, you mention large gatherings. I have had gatherings at my house with a decent number of people and they don’t seem to forget their home training. My neighbors don’t complain about trash in their yards after my gatherings. If trash was to go in their yards from one of my gatherings I would make an effort and collect it. That what a good neighbor would do.
LB, you really should stop making excuses…they should be doing the right thing from the get go.
I think it’s safe to say that none of the members of this church, including Robertson, actually live in the neighborhood. Some years ago I recall finding an offering envelope on the street there marked “For the Pastor’s Vacation.” Fancy cars, fancy houses in the county and fancy vacations are the hallmark of Cedar Street and you can’t pretend otherwise.
No excuses, and maybe you do regularly have gatherings of 1,000 people. I just know that, for example, I have been to places like the Folk Festival, stadiums, even when we had things near us like High on the Hog or the Irish festival, and I have seen increased amounts of litter. That is all that I am saying, that out of 1,000 people each week you are going to have some people that lose their home training, unfortunately. I do not blame the organizers of any of these things for idiots littering, and I do not expect the organizers to clean everything within a six block radius. However, if I lived near a church that large, I would expect that they would clean around their block at least.
“However, if I lived near a church that large, I would expect that they would clean around their block at least.”
They Don’t!
It really amazes me on the idiotic complaints above about parking for one day in honor of Pastor Robertson. When the streets near my home is roped off for St Patrick Day and other events that I do not attend, I have never once complained about having to park blocks away from my home. And now people are complaining about the parking doing Dr. Robertson’s funeral. What kind of people are you? I guess it is okay for my parking to be taken away for an entire week-end for parties and hundreds of people outside of the neighborhood.
Barbara,
Since you don’t live on this block clearly you don’t know what goes on. This church has numerous events every week…probably 3-5 funerals a week plus lots of other things go on that hinders parking for the residents of this block. We’re not only complaining about the parking situation but the fact that these parishioners are loud, rude, and litter. Additionally, they seem to think that the no parking zones and bus stops don’t apply to them. Take a drive over here on Sunday (or any other day really) and take a look. Only then will you be able to make an informed post on this thread.
For the people that live near the church, have you suggested to the church some parking solutions? Can they build a parking deck nearby? Is there space for a parking deck near the church? And outside of Sunday services, most attendees of funerals or weekly activities are not regular church members I would guess. Some probably only go to church for weddings and funerals.
Are there trash cans on your streets? Could part of the solution be temporary or permanent trash cans? To the person who has the large gatherings, do you have some cans you can put out on Sundays? Have the neighbors had meetings with church officials about these issues?
LB,
I doubt a deck would solve the problem unless it was attached to the church itself and there simply is no space for that. The people who are attending the church park illegally because they don’t feel like walking any further than they have to. I have seen parking spaces across the street but they park illegally anyway rather than cross the street. The church owns numerous lots in the area but that doesn’t solve the laziness of the people who perk illegally.
Yes, there are permanent trash cans on the block but why walk over and use those when you can just throw the flyer on your car window on the ground? This isn’t their neighborhood so why should they care. Again, I go back to laziness…”someone else will pick up the trash that I threw down.”
Simply said, they should be better neighbors. No one should have to tell them how to do this.