I have attended the Greek Festival at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral on Granby Street for many years, since my grandparents have lived on the neighboring Fife Street for about 55 years. I enjoy the festival, but has the church thought about moving this event to Town Point Park? I know that Fife Street, which runs beside the church is almost all elderly people and the street is so congested most of the festival that it is hard for them to come and go from their own homes. My grandmother is 84 now and lives alone and if she needed to get out, it would be hard for her to do so, as the food service trucks are parked right across the street from her house. I had a hard time backing out of the driveway on Wednesday before the festival even started and I'm not 84. The church blocked Fife Street off starting Monday and the festival does not commence until Thursday. That is too long to block that street from Granby.
The other disturbing incident that occurred was Saturday night after I had been to the festival. I came across the street to my grandmother's and there was a silver BMW X5 parked right in front of my grandmother's driveway and the driveway of the co-op building that sits on the corner of Fife Street and Granby Street. We asked a couple of the guys cooking and they said they would try to find out to whom the car belonged. I called the non-emergency police number and they said they would send someone out. I waited about 30 minutes and called again. Finally, when the cop showed up, the owner of the car was coming out. I approached him and said 'this is not a parking space, you cannot park here' and the guy was so busy talking on his cell phone that he pretty much ignored him. I then said 'this is a fire hazard' and he ignored me as well. The owner of the car and someone from the church schmoozed with the cop, who basically did nothing and this guy should have received a ticket. His car was parked illegally for over an hour. These types of incidents make it hard for the people that live around the church to enjoy the festival. They need to have better control of the parking situation or move the festival. It is becoming a nuisance. I do not think the festival committee thinks enough of the citizens who live around the church. $20 in gift certificates does not compensate for all of the parking fiascoes and people trampling through yards and letting their children play soccer in yards of people the parents do not even know. If a soccer ball goes through someone's window, who is going to pay to fix that?
I emailed the city, the church and the Wards Corner civic league and got absolutely no response.
I'm bugged, can you tell.
~Alex
The Loukoumades rock. Being disrespectful of their neighbors does not. As their website states "This year's 2010 Greek Festival, Tidewater's oldest and largest ethnic festival, set the record for the biggest-ever attendance." I think they have outgrown the current locale. Do we really need "one of Hampton Roads’ biggest tents" plunked down on Granby Street. It may be all fun if you are visiting the festival, but it is extremely inconvenient if it happens to be in your front yard. Could this festival be another example of nepotism in Norfolk?
_Laine
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