supercheesegirl

so here's my bitch letter to the folks at wrightsville beach, nc. should i send it?

Board of Aldermen
Wrightsville Beach
Council Chambers of Town Hall
321 Causeway Drive
Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480

Dear Board of Aldermen:

I am writing to tell you about an incident that occurred on my first trip to Wrightsville Beach, on June 29, 2002. While I greatly enjoyed most of my time at Wrightsville Beach, I had such a terrible experience with parking that I felt it necessary to write.

After sleeping in and doing a bit of shopping in Wilmington, my companion and I drove to Wrightsville Beach, and crossed the bridge onto the island at around noon on Saturday June 29. We could tell right away that parking would be difficult, so we took the first spot on Waynick Boulevard that we found. Upon parking, we discovered that the meter would only take quarters; while we had plenty of dimes and nickels between us, we could only find two quarters, and this meant that we only had 24 minutes to acquire more. We spoke to a parking attendant at around this time, but she carried no change.

We walked for several minutes up Waynick Boulevard to find a coffee, ice cream, and custard shop near the bridge, where we bought a smoothie and got a few quarters in change, but the counterperson could only give us a few. He told us that usually we could get quarters at the laundromat next door, but recently their change machine had broken; he recommended we drive on a bit to find a parking lot, where we could at least pay with bills or a credit card and not have to worry about the meter. By the time we got back to our car, there were seven minutes left on the meter. We then drove in search of a parking lot where we could leave our car. We drove up and down Waynick Boulevard several times, once even going all the way to the southernmost tip of the island, but every lot we found was either full or for private use only, and at this point there were no spaces even on the street. We then drove north and found a parking lot on the other side of the route 74 intersection. In this parking lot, we followed closely behind two older gentlemen from the beach to their car, and took their parking space when they left. We had been searching for a parking space for over an hour before we were finally able to go to the beach. And this was a cloudy day, with thunderstorms on the forecast!

While my friend and I greatly enjoyed our time on the beach, we were highly unprepared for the parking situation. Before our trip, I picked up several brochures from my AAA office, including the 2002 Official Visitor’s Guide to Historic Wilmington and the Cape Fear Coast, but it made no mention of parking fees, even under the miscellaneous section where transportation was discussed. At my hotel I received a brochure put out by the Wrightsville Beach Chamber of Commerce which made no mention of parking either. I realize how difficult it must be to provide appropriate parking for so many tourists at a popular beach site, but surely something could be done about the meters? For one metered hour of parking to cost $1.25 seems rather high, and for the meters to only accept quarters is ridiculous. This system requires the beachgoer to be running continually back and forth from the beach to the car to the downtown stores for more quarters. The stores can’t be expected to supply quarters to every tourist, and the tourist should be able to park the car and enjoy herself on the beach without worry.

While searching for a parking spot, I became so frustrated that I was brought to tears at one point when we found yet another parking lot full of cars, and I had to ask my companion to drive. I can’t imagine what the experience would have been like if I had had young children in the car with me, as many other drivers did that day. Wrightsville Beach is supposed to be a family beach, but what good does it do children to see their parents arguing about parking, and descending like vultures when a spot does open up? Parking is not an unimportant aspect of a vacation: having a bad experience parking the car can overshadow a family’s entire day. This parking situation could discourage visitors from returning to Wrightsville on future trips.

To sum up, the parking situation was worse than any mall at Christmastime—it was truly terrible. I implore you to take some action about this situation; if you can’t do anything to change the meters for this summer, then at least print some warning about parking in your next brochure publication. If I had known to bring quarters along with me, I would not have had such a bad experience.

I would like to say again that I did greatly enjoy my visit to Wrightsville Beach after the car was parked, and I would like to visit again. Thank you very much for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

Roxanne Halpine

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i plan on sending this to both the Board of Aldermen (who make the parking regulations) and the chamber of commerce (because i do mention businesses in my letter).

here's some links:

http://www.townofwrightsvillebeach.com
http://www.wrightsvillechamber.org
http://www.cape-fear.nc.us

so should i send it?