Maybe the church-going gentleman driving the maroon Ford Explorer with the personalized tags had recognized my face, and merely was letting me know that I was his No. 1 local columnist.
Probably, though, he saw me standing on the homeowners’ side of Iris Lane, where I was observing traffic before Saturday’s jam-packed 4 p.m. Mass at Holy Cross Catholic Church, and wrongly assumed I was one of the neighbors whose complaints prompted Vero Beach officials to restrict parking on the street.
Given the verbal hostility expressed recently by unhappy Holy Cross parishioners, who are upset because they no longer can simply pull in and park perpendicular to the street on the unpaved right-of-way along the south side of Iris Lane, I seriously doubt the driver was giving me a thumbs-up gesture as he rolled by.
At least, he didn’t use his thumb.
This gentleman did park on the street, however – after a Vero Beach Police sergeant forced him to turn around his vehicle so that it faced the proper direction (east) – and then dutifully walked into the church, where I assume he sought forgiveness for his un-Christian-like behavior.
The Explorer driver might’ve been the only street-parking Mass attendee to use a hand signal, but he wasn’t alone in feeling Iris Lane residents had blindsided the church by going directly to the city with their complaints about church parking.
Several other churchgoers saw me jotting down notes as I monitored the pre- and post-Mass activities on Iris Lane, and asked if I was “one of the neighbors.” They seemed to be disappointed to learn I wasn’t.
In fact, I didn’t see any of the neighbors outside their homes before or after the Mass, which attracted more than 1,000 worshipers.
However, I did overhear plenty of griping among parishioners, some of whom didn’t know the on-street parking situation had changed after Holy Cross pastor, Father Richard Murphy, met with city officials for a second time last week.
The most common remark went something like this: “We’ve been parking here for 30 years, and now, all of a sudden, they’re complaining?”
Actually, as a result of Murphy’s follow-up meeting with City Manager Jim O’Connor and code-enforcement officials, Holy Cross parishioners still may park along the south side of Iris lane, adjacent to the church – but they must now parallel park in marked spaces.
Last week, the city posted “Parallel Parking Only” signs along the Iris Lane right-of-way from State Road A1A to Mockingbird Drive.
Those signs replaced the “No Parking Anytime” signs the city had erected a week earlier in response to calls, letters and emails from Iris Lane residents who complained that the on-street parking – particularly when departing churchgoers backed out, often in a hurry – had created a safety issue and resulted in damage to mailboxes, lawns and sprinkler heads.
Both Murphy and O’Connor said allowing parallel parking was a workable compromise that provides a “temporary solution” to the problem. Churchgoers still may park on the street, and residents don’t need to worry about the damage from vehicles backing onto their property.
But it’s not a perfect solution: As a result of the change from pull-in to parallel parking, there’s now room for only 40 to 45 vehicles, down from the 70 the right-of-way could accommodate when perpendicular parking was permitted.
And residents still must endure Mass-produced traffic, which includes drivers using private driveways and lawns to turn around, both before and after services, and hurrying to get away from the vehicular congestion.
Nor is it a permanent solution.
According to Murphy, he plans to meet with Holy Cross’ neighbors to discuss allowing pull-in, angled parking along the south side of the street. If they agree, the church would hire an engineer and pay to re-grade the right-of-way, install a sidewalk and paint the necessary lines to mark the spaces.
“We’ll set up a meeting with them in the next couple of weeks,” Murphy said after the Mass. “The angled parking should solve the problem. People can pull in to park and back out without crossing the center line in the road.
“I’ve been told that some of the residents have had problems with damage to their property – the some mailboxes have been knocked down – and I understand their feelings,” he added. “That’s not acceptable. We want to be good neighbors.
“Unfortunately, you’re always going to have some people who are inconsiderate, even in our own parking lot.”
And that’s the real problem.
Charleston Square resident Mary Jane Grant said she walks down Iris Lane at least six mornings each week and has seen “property destroyed, cars hit and even pedestrians hit” by churchgoers who park on the street.
“It’s about time something is being done about this,” she said. “It’s a shame that the church can just take over that road. There are other options.”
Grant said Holy Cross could expand its lot or, as O’Connor has suggested, use the nearby Riverside Park lot for overflow parking and offer shuttle service. Nobody, though, believes Riverside Park is a realistic option.
The reason? The Mass attendees who park along Iris Lane do so because it’s more convenient and allows for a quicker exit, not because the church lot is full.
I’m sure many of them, being the church-going Catholics that they are, would admit as much. And they’d point to the snarl of traffic in the Holy Cross lot, which was still backed up 20 minutes after the Mass had ended.
Believe me, I understand where they’re coming from.
I was raised Catholic – and I mean CATHOLIC, from baptism to communion to confirmation. My parents required me to go to Mass, not only every Sunday but also on holy days. I attended a Catholic elementary school for a few years, then, when I transferred to public school, went to catechism classes on Saturday mornings.
I’ve attended Mass in different parts of America, and it’s always the same: Some folks go because they’re obligated to go, and when the service is over, they can’t get away fast enough and will do whatever it takes to beat the traffic.
They have no interest in socializing after church. Some don’t bother to stay around for the benediction. Often, they’ll receive communion and immediately bolt for the exit, the sacred wafer still in their mouths as they reach for their car keys.
I saw some of these people Sunday, when the post-Mass scene along Iris Lane resembled pit road at a NASCAR race, with drivers anxiously looking over their left shoulders for an opening to pull onto the street.
Some of them immediately made U-turns, rather than continue in the path of traffic to State Road A1A, and headed west toward Mockingbird Drive – again, because it was quicker and more convenient.
That’s why I have serious doubts that simply installing angled-parking spaces will solve the problem.
“We haven’t come up with a permanent solution yet,” O’Connor said. “That might take some time.”
It shouldn’t.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard numerous references to the “Keep Vero ‘Vero’” slogan, usually in connection to the proposed sale of the old Dodgertown Golf Club property, parking along Ocean Drive and even this Holy Cross controversy. And I agree that housing density, traffic and growth are vital issues as we strive to preserve our quality of life and small-town charm.
But what makes Vero Beach special – what really makes Vero “Vero” – are the people who live here, the way we work together as a community and how we treat each other.
We don’t drive across our neighbors’ lawns to make U-Turns. We don’t knock down our neighbors’ mailboxes and race away.
We certainly don’t get hostile with neighbors who are simply trying to protect their property.
Just so you know, the right-of-way along Iris Lane was never intended to be a parking lot. As Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey wrote in a letter to a parishioner who complained about the newly restricted parking: “The site plan calls for a landscape buffer to conceal cars in the church parking lot from the residents/community.”
Yet, if Holy Cross’ parishioners show the proper respect and consideration for the church’s neighbors on Iris Lane – if folks on both sides of the street conduct themselves the way people in Vero Beach should – the angled-parking plan could work.
So let’s give it a thumbs-up . . . using our thumbs, of course.
