I must confess. I singlehandedly contributed to 16% of Steve Brodie's putative loss to Anne Fauver for City Council District 6. In the last count, Brodie is down by 5 votes. I currently live in District 6, but I'm still registered to vote in District 2. I would have voted for Brodie, because (1) I honestly had little clue as to whatever slight differences might exist between the candidates, (2) one difference that stands out is that Brodie is anti-parking deck, as am I, and (3) I know his campaign manager. Instead, I misplaced the voter registration record update form, voted in District 2, contributed to Kwanza Hall's landslide victory, and got thwacked by said campaign manager upon my confession.

Alas, the Atlanta City Council went ahead and voted the other day in favor of building a parking deck half in, half out of the ground at the north end of Piedmont Park. I'm sure this makes some people happy, by virtue of the fact that they're going to make some money off of it somehow, but as a resident on Charles Allen Drive, one of the number one free parking destinations for all park goers, I have to wonder what the point really is.

Several days a year, I hate all people who feel compelled to invade my neighborhood with their cars: a handful of Screen on the Green showings, Dogwood Festival, Jazz Festival, and Pride. Those days, I can't so much as drive to the grocery store, because I'll never be able to park when I come home ("Private Parking? What's that mean?"); the other 350 days a year, things are fine, even on the finest of sunny Spring days. With a whopping 700-something parking spaces in the deck, what on earth is the parking deck really going to do to improve traffic for a festival drawing 5,000, or 10,000, or 50,000 people? Bobkes. And on that fine Spring day? Methinks people are going to avail themselves of the ample free parking in my neighborhood before shelling out cash for a spot.

Does somebody want to explain to this fool why the deck is a good idea?

Update 11/25/05: Read this at 11Alive.com:

“This is a regional park. We need to make it accessible to everyone,” said parking deck supporter Kathryn Kenith.

Oh my flipping goodness! This parking deck is going to do jack squat to make our "regional park...accessible to everyone." Am I wrong? Gah.