Rant: Parking Citation at William B. Umstead Park

Welcome to my blog! For a few years I have wanted to start a blog about interesting things going on in my life and a place to vent my occasional rant.

Now I did not plan to start my blog with a rant, but I need to get this one out of my system.

Yesterday I got very upset when in my opinion an over-zealous State Park Ranger Bob Davis wrote me a $146 citation for parking about 25 minutes to the side off a dirt road in William B. Umstead Park in Raleigh, North Carolina. I say over-zealous because it should have been a warning, not a $146 citation.

Let me explain why I parked off the side of a dirt road, instead of in a “designated parking area”. My wife and our two year old son had driven from our home near I-40 Harrison Ave. exit with the park brochure in hand, and planned to eat lunch near the Glenwood Avenue entrance because we wanted, after our lunch, to have the least walking distance from a parking area to the “Point of Interest” and that is a JOKE “Airport Overlook”on Reed Creek Trail to show the Airport and especially planes for our son.

So after our lunch we enter the park, drive slowly down the narrow roads past the visitor center, then left, and then right on a dirt and gravel road down to the “Big Lake” where according to the map in the park brochure there should be parking, but no only two handicap spots. This means we have three choices, we can drive home and disappoint our son, or we can drive back to a parking area that also allows non-handicapped stickered cars to park and then have to walk even longer with him as we did not bring a stroller as we planned the distance from the map showing parking spaces closer, but did NOT specify it was handicap spots only, or we can try to drive a bit further to try and find an area closer to the “Point of Interest”, again a joke, “Airport Overlook” area where we can park off the road and walk as short a distance as possible with our two year old son.

When we came as close as possible to the anti-climax “Point of Interest”, I’ll explain in a bit, we parked off the side of a dirt road, right before a “Official Traffic Only” sign and walked about a mile to the according to the map “Point of Interest – Airport Overlook”, well actually we walked past it and had to ask a few joggers where it was, and it was behind us! Then we walked back to the clearing we previously passed and was greatly disappointed that this was called a “Point of Interest” named “Airport Overlook”, sure overlook if you have binoculars because it’s 3 miles away, and then it’s only for small propeller planes. So my son literally could see nothing of interest, nor could we, so we walked the mile back to our car. As we came down Reed Creek Trail to the dirt road we parked on, closed by a metal gate I saw a park ranger turning around and back towards where we parked, and surely enough when we got close to my car I saw the pink slip in my windshield, and when I reached it I read it was a $146 parking citation, a $146 price to pay for about 25 minutes of parking off the side, at the end a dirt, not obstructing traffic and in nobody’s way. Actually we were forced to park at this location since the ADVERTISED parking spots in the park brochure allowed only handicapped sticker cars, and since we could not walk with our two-year old son 10 or so miles. On top of this false map parking advertising, calling the “Airport Overlook” a “Point of Interest” is a joke as there is literally nothing to see! Because of false advertsing of parking area and the deception of point of interest, I think a $146 parking citation is completely unfair and I plan to fight this citation vigorously. This morning I emailed Scott Letchwort at the park, complaining by pretty much writing him as I written here. If that won't result in my citation being cancelled (reversed) I'll figth it in court, and I am seriously considering sueing the state park seeking class-action lawsuit, as I am sure other unfortunate, frustrated and disappointed people have been forced to make tough decisions as whether to cancel going to a point of interest, park far off in the distance or park “illegal”.

The people at the park seriously need to revise their park brochure and make it clear which parking areas that are only for vehicles with a handicapped sticker, and they should also made avaialable of their abundant space for parking areas closer to points of interest, whether those points are actually interesting or not!