An upbeat website for a downtown school

the Southerner Online

An upbeat website for a downtown school

the Southerner Online

An upbeat website for a downtown school

the Southerner Online

Music Midtown complicates parking for students

 

The last few weeks have been hectic for all of us at Grady, especially those who drive to schol. Every year, the people from Music Midtown take over 10th Street, close down lanes, and make life much more difficult for students trying to get to class in the morning. Not only does the Friday of Music Midtown make arrival challenging, the days leading up to the Sept. 18 start of the event get very stressful for students trying to get to school on time, also.

While the additional 10th Street bike lane allows us to share the streets with bikers in a safe fashion, it already blocks traffic on 10th Street and Monroe Drive. Now, Music Midtown takes away another lane so Live Nation can set up the amphitheaters for the festival.

Music Midtown also takes over the dirt lot near the trailers. Without this parking lot, there just aren’t enough spaces for all of the juniors and seniors to park in the main student parking lot. Later in the week, many students looped around Grady multiple times before finding a parking spot at Grady or on one of the streets surrounding the school.

On the day Music Midtown started, the student lot was overcrowded, and cars were parked illegally, resulting in people getting blocked in.

“They should provide more parking for students during Music Midtown week,” junior Anna White said. “I had to drive over the parking bump and onto the sidewalk in order to get out.”

Another change in Grady life is the lockout policy. This ensures that if you neglect to make it to class before 8:30 a.m., you must report to the attendance office for a late pass. Luckily, during the week of Music Midtown, this policy was suspended because Music Midtown construction. With late buses and impenetrable traffic, the system bent toward letting students in late without passes.

It takes me nearly 15 minutes to arrive, even though I only live a mile away from Grady. Honestly, it would probably be faster to just walk to school during this preparation week.

The traffic gets even worse after school. With the rush to get home from work, traffic from downtown clogs up 10th street and Monroe even more. For those of us who want to go home before going to extracurricular activities, this is a terrible waste of time.

All of these changes and delays really made it difficult for students to get to school and park during the last week and a half. Hopefully in the future, Grady and Music Midtown can decipher a better system so that we can get to school on time and accommodate all of the students who need a place to park.

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

The Southerner intends for this area to be used to foster healthy, thought-provoking discussion. Comments are expected to adhere to our standards and to be respectful and constructive. Furthermore, we do not permit any of the following inappropriate content including: Libel or defamatory statements, any copyrighted, trademarked or intellectual property of others, the use of profanity and foul language or personal attacks. All comments are reviewed and approved by staff to ensure that they meet these standards. The Southerner does not allow anonymous comments, and requires a name and valid email address submitted that are variable. This email address will not be displayed but will be used to confirm your comments. Online comments that are found in violation of these policies will be removed as quickly as possible.
All the Southerner Online Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Activate Search
Music Midtown complicates parking for students