A man who lives a few feet west of the Confederate Flag Memorial under construction said the Sons of Confederate Veterans should put in parking at the memorial site and not in public streets. Philip Cooper and his neighbor, Chuck Copeland, went before the Orange City Council on Tuesday to ask that the city also prohibit parking along 41st Street where they live.
“I back out of my driveway and almost go into the ditch (along the memorial land,) Cooper said. The memorial land is 15 to 16 feet from his land. “I’ve had problems with people attending to the memorial parking in the middle of the street,” he added. The cars visiting the unfinished memorial go into his driveway to turn around.
“There’s plenty of land for them to use on their own property for parking,” he said.
Cooper measured the street at 15 feet and Copeland measured the street at 16 feet. Copeland said his pickup truck measures 8-and-a-half feet from side mirror to side mirror. That doesn’t leave room for his truck and parked vehicles, he said.
The council voted to approve a resolution to prohibit parking along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and the Interstate 10 access road, the other borders of the 0.45 acre site where the memorial will be.
Police Chief Lane Martin said parking along the two highways is dangerous because they do not have wide shoulders. He said the driver of a parked car along the roads who opens a door would swing the door into the traffic lane. In addition, both those sides have deep drainage ditches. In a memo to the council, he suggested that parking would be allowed on 41st Street.
City Manager Shawn Oubre said the Texas Department of Transportation has considered a right-turn lane at the intersection of MLK and the interstate access road. Both roads are in the state highway system. TxDOT changed the timing of the traffic lights and now westbound traffic moves smoothly without backing up. He said TxDOT said if the city approved the resolution the department will install the ‘No Parking’ signs.
Cooper and Copeland live next door to each other on 41st Street. The short street has a dead end where they are. Their houses and a union hall are the only buildings on the section of street. That part of 41st forms the western side of the triangular shape of the confederate memorial land.
Sons of Confederate Veterans received building permit two-and-a-half years ago for a $50,000 memorial site. The plans include sidewalks made of memorial bricks bought by donors along with park benches. The display is to include up to 33 flags from the confederacy. The only thing standing now is a concrete circular pad surrounded by 13 Grecian-style columns. The pad and columns have not been painted.
Margaret Toal, KOGT
Social Media