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Evansville safety board pauses decision on Bacon Burger & Beer festival after complaints about blocked court parking
Summary
The City of Evansville Board of Public Safety heard opposition from a judge and the Evansville Building Authority over repeated street-blocking at prior events and initially voted to deny a street-closure permit for a Bacon Burger & Beer festival; the board later rescinded that denial and tabled the item until the next meeting.
The City of Evansville Board of Public Safety on Sept. 24 heard opposition to a proposed street closure for a Bacon Burger & Beer festival after speakers said past events blocked secured courthouse parking and impeded access.
Judge Shively told the board the prior closure “blocked the entrance to the secured parking lot for all the judges,” and said the restriction impeded courthouse access the court requires 24 hours a day. “I am opposed to the issuance of this,” the judge said.
Curtis Eustace, administrator for the Board of Public Safety, read a memo from Dave Rector of the Evansville Building Authority documenting multiple past problems. The memo said at the March Mac and Cheese Festival a tent company placed a tent in the entrance to the Back 40 parking lot and it remained through the following Monday, and that at the Sept. 6 Pickle Festival barricades were placed at Ninth and Sycamore blocking access to the court lot at about 9:30 a.m. Security officers were contacted, the memo said, and the southbound lane was later cleared to allow single-path access to the court’s lot; the memo concluded the application should be denied because the applicant had not followed the approved plans.
Event organizer Joe Nader acknowledged setup problems at prior events, saying vendors and food trucks sometimes arrived from different directions and that one vendor parked in the wrong place. “We only had 3 hours” for setup, Nader said, and described efforts to get trucks moved and the event opened. He said the Pickle Festival involved about 50 vendors and that he had done roughly 40 events.
Board members debated whether to deny the permit outright or table the request. A motion to deny the permit carried at the meeting. Later in the session, after further clarification about members’ positions and the absence of the board president, a motion was made and approved to rescind the earlier denial and to table the item until the next meeting so the petitioner — who said he was close to the event and had already spent money on advertising — could be notified and return with more information.
The board did not adopt conditions or a revised plan at the Sept. 24 meeting. The item will be revisited at the board’s next scheduled meeting.
