Thank you for letting us know of your concerns. Typically the sidewalk is not blocked for events in Vinoy Park. It was blocked for St. Anthony's Triathlon due the to need to secure the bike transition area, but normally the sidewalk remains open until the day before an event when accommodations have to be made for vendors to load in to the park. There is a sidewalk on the west side of the street that remains open at all times, and during those times when the sidewalk on the east side is closed (closest to the park is closed) we encourage you to use the western sidewalks to remain out of the street when the street is still open to vehicular traffic. Once an event is opened to the public Bayshore is closed to vehicular traffic so that pedestrians can safely move around in the area.

Thank you for the response. I seem to remember in previous years that the sidewalk was still accessible next to the park while the remainder of the park was fenced off. It is just more convenient to be on that sidewalk.

The street is now being blocked by dumpsters and portal Johns. Very sad.

It didn't used to be that way. Apparently someone "new" is in charge of events down there? There is plenty of room to not put the fence over the sidewalk and dumpster not used as barricades. Unless total closure is the intention.

We understand that our downtown residents are often impacted by the events taking place in our downtown parks and appreciate your patience. We have the same staff working and coordinating the events as always, and they are mindful of the impact these events have on our downtown residents. Large scale events such as Warped Tour (happening today) all typically use the same or very similar set up that you see today. In the interest of pedestrian safety, Bayshore is shut down to vehicular traffic from in front of the Vinoy north, and to include, 7th Avenue. The through street that leads to North Shore Pool is also closed to vehicular traffic. The sidewalk on the west side of Bayshore in front of the Vinoy Towers remains open. The location for the port o lets is the same as it is for Ribfest and Bluesfest. Port o lets have to be placed in multiple locations for large events such as these. The dumpster placed for today's concert will be removed by tomorrow morning. The fence is in place to direct patrons for entry into the park but part of Bayshore (in front of the towers) and the west sidewalk remain open.

Lynn, respecfully, we have lived here 4 years and the port-o-lets have never been placed outside the fenceline onto the property across the street as they are today. We have never had multiple dumpsters, and have seen several events where the dumpsters were placed near Northshore pool rather than near the condominiums. The parking lot placement would obviously have less impact visually and damaging the surrounding environment by missed throws of trash into the cans, extremely loud crashes as trash are put into the dumpster, etc... and putting port-o-lets outside the fence encourages people to picnic and camp out in the green area across from the park rather than pay the money to enter the concert. The fence has never blocked off the sidewalk except for St Anthony's. As much as you close vehicle traffic, there is a great deal of small vehicle (mini golf-cart type pick-ups and large trucks are still allowed in and are much noisier than cars) traffic and policy or ambulance presence that has to be dodged. You have installed a dozen or so permanent sign poles to post no-parking for events which make the area look even less inviting and more trashy when events aren't there. Finally, the port-0-lets at other events have been relocated to the water side of the park or the north side of the park... again causing less noise and aesthetic issues for the residents. To re-emphasize, we love the events and the City park team does a great job. These seem like minor adjustments to encourage more and more events in the park. Disruption is not the issue... it is the careful management of assets to reduce disruption and preserve the beauty that makes these events so special... that is where the concern it.

THere are now several picnickers and umbrellas and chairs outside the fences in the greenway or street. why do we have to wait next year to fix the mistakes? Also, note that closing Bayshore at the Art Museum adds about a half hour to anyone trying to get to the Vinoy Place or Vinoy Hotel because of the angle of the 5th Ave barricades at 2nd, Beach and Bayshort. Why was the additional street closure necessary?

Thank you for making your concerns known to us. We host over 100 co-sponsored events in our downtown area each year, and as you are well aware, Vinoy Park is our most popular venue. We are always looking for ways to help the event organizers improve and we strive to make the events downtown as uninstrusive as possible to our residents. Again, thank you for your patience.

The City of St Petersburg periodically reviews past reports that are made from citizens within our city limits, and in an effort to clean-up old issues that were resolved some time ago, we are marking as 'closed' those issues that were submitted in the past for which the work has been completed or the issue has otherwise been resolved.

If you think for any reason that the issue you submitted in the past might still be unresolved, please feel free to submit a new report with the SeeClickFix St. Pete website and we will make sure the issue is directed to the appropriate City department to be addressed as soon as possible.

Thank you - MAC