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romegasir
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| Joined: | Sun Oct 7th, 2007 |
| Location: | Rome, Georgia USA |
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Posted: Tue Jul 1st, 2008 03:40 am |
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Jess wrote: We had a similiar experience a few weekends back--a date night that turned out so bad it got funny. We get date nights very few and far between--we had to go out late due to kid issues, and planned to go to Bistro 239 for drinks and then Harvest Moon for dinner (spread the dollars around). We enjoyed our drinks at the Bistro (she makes good mojitos) and then made our way over to H.M. By the time we got there, they weren't serving dinner anymore! It was like 9:30! On a Thursday! We turned around to head back to the first place, but they were closing up shop, too. We walked up to a few more places on Broad St....No luck. We called Sassafras Grille over on Redmond--nope, they had closed the kitchen, too.
No food for us. At 9:30 on a Thursday night!
So we went to Krystal's, bought a sack of burgers and sat on a bench on Broad St. to watch all the ridiculous drunks and their shenanigans coming out of the Alley. Good times, good times.
I agree with others--walking around downtown is all part of the fun of a night out on Broad St.
Everytime I go to H.M. either the bar isn't open, they don't have a bartender, they are out of whatever I want to eat.....etc etc etc..........................................probably just don't want RGS ruining their reputation
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romevelo
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Posted: Tue Jul 1st, 2008 04:00 pm |
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Hi,
I am sorry to hear that our race interfered with your plans. I am the event director for the past weekend's Annual GA Cup Bike in Rome. We bring this race to Rome every year and always have one of our 3 events in downtown Rome. The race annually brings about 3-400 people to Rome for the whole weekend. The nature of the event requires that most people stay in hotel rooms and of course eat out. It is a nice boost to our local eccomomy.
Our event was planned and authorized since January of this year. The promoter for the Forum event booked his event after us. He was informed of the nature of our event and the anticipated construction at the Forum parking lot. He WAS advised to choose a different weekend. He decided to use this weekend anyway.
We work closely with the CVB, Rome and Floyd Police, and Public Works. Our event was on the Front Page of last Tuesday's Rome News Tribune as well as having coverage with serveral online news sources. Another Front Page story ran on Saturday which specifically talked about road closures All pre-coverage also detailed the route downtwon including times and locations of road closures. All businesses on the course were contacted in person prior to the event. Over 50 flyers were posted on the course 4 days before the event to make visitors aware of the impending road closures.
Our event closed 2 blocks of Borad Street on the North bound lane from 3:00 pm until about 8:30. I am a little confused about your concern for a parking ticket. As with any major city, tickets are not given in the evening. I believe that after 5 or 6 you may park as long as you want. Regardless, you should have 2 hours. Anyone feel free to correct me on this detail.
Ultimately, we as citizens and residents have to decide if we want a vibrant downtown with mulitple events or a ghost town. Yes, we have several great restaurants downtown, but what else is there to encourage people to visit? Free events, fesitvals, parades, (yes event organized Fights at the forum) these are the backbone of building a vibrant downtown. If you are concerned about parking or don't wnat to see these kinds of things, there are other options. Your letter mentioned you wanted to eat at Schroders. There is a great Schroders location just past Berry mall on 27. Parking is never a problem and the food is great!
What defines a downtown area is dense population of both residential and business buildings. In every vibrant downtwon in the world, parking is at a premium. I contend that it is unreasonable to assume that you can go to any downtown on a Saturday night and expect to have a parking space directly in front of one of the busiest restaurants in town. You may have to park several blocks away. Regardlass of festivals or events which may cause road closures or an influx of out of town visitors. IF you could, than our downtown merchants are in trouble.
Finally, you did not mention any sort of handicap which would authorize the use of a handicapped space so I assume you would be capable of walking several blocks on what was a beatiful evening. The average person's walking pace is to covera mile in about 10-12 minutes. Worst case scenario, you have to park 3-5 bloicks away, have a nice walk and work up a proper appetite. I cannot imagine that you would have had more than a 10-12 minute walk. The sidewalk was fully open to foot traffic, and we had voluntters to asist people when crossing the race course.
Your qoute---"First of all, who cares about seeing a bunch of people riding bikes?" - Over 400,00 people watched the Tour De Georgia in person in 2008. 30,000 people attend the Athens Twilight Criterium every year in Athens GA. Now our event is an amatuer event, and is not as well established. But we are planning to grow. There were numerous people on our course watching the event at various points of the day.
If you have constructive ideas how to make our event better, we are open. Using Broad Street is always going to be a part of the equation as this firmly anchors our event downtown. This increases business for local merchants and provides an interesting venue for our atheletes, thus providing for a good turnout.
It is not nice to call someone "stupid" Your qoute----"I didn't see the need to have the WHOLE left side of the street blocked off when those stupid cyclist were just going around in a circle!!!" The format of the race is called a criterium. It is kinda like NASCAR. Hey, they just go around in a circle too, is NASCAR stupid??
As to the other aspects of your evening, I completely agree with other folks that they should print details on the passes, or honor them.
Thanks for reading.
Chris
Rome Velo
Last night my husband and I went out for a rare date night. We decided to go to Schorder's on Broad St. and then to a movie. When we got to Broad St. the whole left side of the street was blocked off for the dang cyclist, the fight was going on at the Forum and there was a wedding at the Margaretta Hall and NO WHERE FOR US TO PARK! We rode around the block I know 5 times tring to figure out where we were going to park. There may have been a handfull of people watching them. The parking lot at the Forum is blocked off due to construction, so all those people had to find somewhere to park. We finally just parked on the side of the road and walked 3 blocks to Schroder's. We couldn't even enjoy our meal for worring if we were going to have a ticket when we got back to our car...cause you know they like to do that! Then we go all the way out to Coosa to see WANTED. We had 2 movie passes that my sister in law gave us as gifts. We thought this would be a great idea since gas is so high, we could use our passes to see the movie and it wouldn't cost us a thing! Well, we get to the window and the fat lady with no personality tells us that we can't use our passes on the first week the movie comes out!!!! WTH! Why don't they stamp that on the back of the passes??? Sometimes I think this town is so screwed up! So, needless to say, our date night was ruined! The people who plan these events in Rome need to think about EVERY event that is going on, and they need to think about the other people in Rome who are just trying to have a nice evening. I didn't see the need to have the WHOLE left side of the street blocked off when those stupid cyclist were just going around in a circle!!! 
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Jess
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Posted: Tue Jul 1st, 2008 05:01 pm |
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I have to say, romevelo, I've enjoyed the cycling events that have come here so far. We made it a point to go out and see every year of the Tour de Georgia, and we're just regular ride-around-the-block-on-your-bike types. Certainly not cycling "enthusiasts."
I think Saturday night must have been a perfect storm of parking woes for downtown. It's a shame that your event is taking heat for that, because it wasn't just your event that was the problem. Was there a reason your group picked early evening for the event? Would it be better in the future to pick an afternoon when the businesses are still open but generally less busy?
Last edited on Tue Jul 1st, 2008 05:15 pm by Jess
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Jess
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Posted: Tue Jul 1st, 2008 05:16 pm |
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I just realized I said Saturday night. Now I can't remember what night it was.
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fmrtchr
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Posted: Tue Jul 1st, 2008 05:30 pm |
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Spice wrote: Craftymama, have you called the manager of the Theatre? It really seems unreasonable that they would not allow you admittance if the rules were not printed on the passes. Perhaps they would be willing to give you extra passes to make up for the problem.
The orange tickets do say that they cannot be used the first week of a new movie
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romevelo
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Posted: Tue Jul 1st, 2008 05:46 pm |
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Excellent question. Downtown criteriums are generally held on Saturday evenings for several reasons.
First, we realize we are closing streets, and this affects both businesses and residents. IF we shut down streets in the afternoon, as in before, 3, we have a greater chance of disrupting shopping and the lunch crowd. People are more apt to be in a hurry for lunch, and less forgiving of road closures. Also, people make major purchases early in the day, such as buying a mattress from the downtown mattress store. They are closed durring most of our event by starting later.
Heat. It is really hot at 2:00.
Race schedule. Our event is comprised of 3 races in the weekend. We run 2 on Saturday, and one long event Sunday. We need a substantial break in the middle to rest the athletes and have time to set up at the new location. Saturday morning we held a race on Technology Parkway. A portion of that road was closed for 2 hours.
Our Sunday race did not close any roads.
Finally, we hope that by having the event in the evening, we will attract more casual spectators like your self. People are more likely to be looking for something to see and do in the evening.
Thanks for your comments! We will be examining event timing in our post race review.
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romevelo
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Posted: Tue Jul 1st, 2008 05:49 pm |
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Oh, we need to keep to a weekend as our atheletes are largley amatuer. Thus we cannot expect them to take off work to attend the event. Also, this is part of a larger series. There are about 30 race weekends in Georgia every year, all over the state. We visit many, many cities across Georgia, and hold events just like this one.
Thanks.
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Deaglos
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| Joined: | Mon Feb 4th, 2008 |
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Posted: Tue Jul 1st, 2008 08:03 pm |
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Hey Chris I agree with ya. The only time I got pist at the race was my own fault and I was more pissed at myself as I did not remember the schedule and went the wrong way.
So had to double back in traffic which was not easy, that was during the tour D' Georgia.
I do think however that some people will find a reason to grumble no matter what, if it had not been your race it would have just been something else.
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