- On Street Parking?
The Long Beach Visitor’s Bureau likes to hype our peninsula as a “year round tourist destination” and I have to say that it has become a true statement in recent years. However, there is no doubt that it gets busier and more crowded as summer approaches, and that is true in Oysterville, as well.
I’ve gone on record many times as saying I enjoy the visitors who come here. For the most part, they are interested in our history, respectful of the village, and polite to those of us who live here. I like answering their questions and suggesting places they should be sure to see. But I have to say that that some tourists are pretty much oblivious to the normal conventions.
For instance, right across from the church – which is the main ‘downtown’ attraction in Oysterville – is the wide, grassy pathway leading to the bay. In case there is any doubt as to its purpose, it is clearly marked “Clay Street.” It is a county road. The number of people who park their cars directly across the entrance to it, effectively blocking it from traffic, is a constant source of amazement to me.
Not that there is a lot of traffic on Clay Street. But the oystermen and steamer clam growers do use it to get their trucks and equipment closer to their beds. Blocking the street off presents a difficulty and there is no reason to do so; unrestricted parking is allowed along both sides of Territory Road. I can’t imagine any of these visiting transgressors parking across a narrow street or alley in the city. Maybe the lack of asphalt on Clay Street mystifies people…
The other constant irritant is the number of visitors who open the door to the church when they enter but don’t close it when they leave. I’d like to have a penny for every trip I’ve made across the street to close that door over the years. That one really mystifies me. Do people enter their own houses and just leave the door open indefinitely? It’s crazy-making.
Occasionally, too, people park right in front of our gate or right in front of our garage door. I have no word for that except “rude.” Fortunately, it seldom happens. Otherwise, I don’t think my tolerance for visitors to the village would last very long. As it is, pride of place wins out and I’m happy other people enjoy coming here. I just wish they had more common sense!
Rant over??? I truely understand your distress at people’s lack of deceorum. Ahh such is life. It doesn’t make it easier, just more understandable .
We see too much of that “rudeness” or not enough courtesy. It has long been my contention that “Common Sense” is not very common at all!
Twenty years ago when I was single and went dancing at the Bent Rudder one of the standard replies to the information that I lived on the Peninsula was a disbelieving, “You live here?!” The tourists (for whom I sometimes use the more colloquial term) can be extremely rude. Once I was trying to drive East on Bolstad past the then Midtown Market. A tourist had parked IN THE STREET and was getting out of his car to go into the market. He was surprised to find out that it wasn’t just parking. They are a mixed blessing to be sure. I always heaved a sigh of relief Labor Day, but the tourist bureau has been very successful at getting people to come year round. Good for the economy, hard on the nerves sometimes.