These lots will sit empty while 12,000-plus people try to attend the event,” Eugene Pride President Brooks McLain writes in an emailed statement to Eugene Weekly. “Parking is being blocked starting before our festival begins.”0
Pride’s parking needs are “superseded” by an August 10 Ween concert at the Cuthbert Amphitheater, which is owned and operated by Kesey Enterprises, according to a press release from Pride organizers.
Per a 2006 concession agreement — a contract — between Kesey Enterprises and the city of Eugene, the private entertainment company has first right of refusal for parking around Cuthbert between May 1 and Oct. 31 annually.
“Eugene Pride will be without public parking for the first time in 15 years due to a time-conflict with a sold-out Ween concert”
AKA the city has a fair, transparent system for permitting these kinds of things and somebody else claimed the spot first and Eugene Pride organizers are throwing a tantrum that they aren’t getting special treatment. They planned an event without making sure there was parking available, that’s not anybody’s fault but the planners. If you run big events, you need to stay on top of your paperwork and do your diligence.