Symphony parking should be priority

I am sending my Elgin Symphony ticket back to the ESO for a refund, not that I will get one. I arrived 45 minutes before the concert to find no place to park. I drove around and drove around at the pace of a snail and gave up when it was obvious I would not find a place close enough or in time enough to make the first piece in the program.

Placing signs at the entrance to the big civic lot saying "Hemmens Parking" was a joke. No one was there to enforce it by asking to see a ticket for the performance so the carnival goers just ignored it. I didn't see any Elgin policemen anywhere either. Traffic was backed up across the tracks on Kimball making for a dangerous situation.

Why does the city allow the Mexican carnival to schedule on the same day and in the same location as the Elgin Symphony? There is not enough parking. I drive all the way from Huntley to use my ESO season tickets, which I have had for years. I am a senior citizen. Do I give up church to park at 8 a.m. for a 3:30 p.m. concert? Am I to be forced to park in unsafe neighborhoods and walk for blocks to get there?

The ESO should have priority. It has concerts October through June at the Hemmens and has done it for years before this Carnival started. The carnival can be moved -- put it in the park near the Casino. Put police on duty to make sure that people using the civic lot have tickets for the concert at the Hemmens. Let carnival goers use remote lots at the schools, for instance, and bus them to the carnival. They aren't senior citizens who have trouble walking.

I have already paid for my season tickets for next year and lo and behold, it's the same weekend again. It is time to do something about this now.

Joan Longmire

Sun City, Huntley