Another long and dusty, frustrating night for Les and Paulette Greenberg, vociferous leaders of protesting neighbors on one block of Farragut Drive.
Pinched between a popular, heavily subscribed church on one side and a bevy of schools on the other, residents claim the two communities unfairly deprive them of their entitled parking spaces.
Playing placater, the City Council predictably voted lopsidedly 4-1 last evening to endorse a previously released, authorized parking study.
Venerable KOA Consulting had recommended 2-hour time limit parking on the busy block instead of the neighbor-preferred permit-only formula.
A cynic said that the schools and church already were neighborhood fixtures when protestors moved in.
For two hours the familiar drama played out like an old television rerun. If any dialogue was new, it escaped attention,
The Greenbergs revived their long-running conspiracy assertions. Winless so far in courtrooms, they revisited their generously-salted accusations that a former City Councilman palled around with one certain leader of the Grace Lutheran Church. They contended the Councilman should have recused himself. Mrs. Greenberg charged another prominent church member with refusing to allow Farragut Drive partisans to access his Facebook page. The Greenbergs also targeted Vice Mayor Jeff Coper for being too cozy with church mavens.
As she did last March when running for re-election, Councilperson Meghan Sahli-Wells dashed forward in a vain attempt to aid the residents who had roundly supported her return to office in April.
However, Ms. Sahli-Wells maintained a lonely vigil.
Her attempts to ameliorate the crush of the Council vote did not impress her colleagues. The lone dissenter last spring in authorizing a parking study, Ms. Sahli-Wells was the lighthouse keeper again last evening in the main vote.
While Thomas Small gave Ms. Sahli-Wells a necessary second to force a vote on her amendment proposals, his principal thrust was apart from hers.
After noting that he had met with neighbors and members of Grace Lutheran Church, Mr, Small sought to play peacekeeper.
Repeatedly emphasizing the importance of “keeping this forum open,” the first-year Councilman stressed that there are “nice people” on both sides seeking a congenial outcome.
