Dear Dr. Gridlock:
Kudos to Victoria Neal for her well-written letter ["Nissan Pavilion Headaches," Dr. Gridlock, Aug. 26]. I moved to Gainesville in 1990. I have seen explosive growth in the area since that time, with virtually nothing having been done with Interstate 66 or Route 29 to improve traffic flow.
The state and Prince William County have both done a poor job of assessing, taxing and funding the needs of their citizens. It is fortunate that my employer allows me to work a flexible schedule; otherwise I would have been forced to leave my home because of the traffic.
To allow Nissan Pavilion's construction without adequate transportation infrastructure in place was ludicrous.
I print a concert schedule and keep it in my car. On concert days, I am forced to leave work early or stay late.
The worst experience was a medical emergency with a child that required stitches just as a concert was ending.
To sit in a car through all of those delays with a bleeding child only to finally get to the hospital -- which was full of injured/drunk concertgoers -- and wait half the night to be seen still infuriates me.
I support your idea to have the pavilion declared a public nuisance. In the interim, I might also suggest to anyone who is forced to sit in that traffic to boycott the Nissan Motor Co.
Craig A. Roberts
Gainesville
If the pavilion affects your life in a positive way, by all means buy a Nissan. If the pavilion affects you negatively, then don't. Call it a referendum by automobile purchase.
Dear Dr. Gridlock:
I, too, have had it with Nissan Pavilion traffic. Last year we took our daughters to see Dave Matthews, and we sat in our parking place for well over two hours after the concert before traffic even began to move. It was a four-hour trip home -- to Great Falls! Inexcusable.
Wolf Trap doesn't have that problem after concerts; neither does Merriweather Post Pavilion or RFK Stadium. That concert was our last at Nissan, and I'll bet there are many others who will never go there again.
