Will the effort to squeeze the vehicles of both voters and pickleball players into the parking lot at Walter Reed Community Center go harmoniously? Or will it result in conflict that raises a (wait for it ...) racket?
County election officials are hoping for the former rather than the latter as the days count down to the start of early voting at Walter Reed.
The center, located in South Arlington along South Walter Reed Drive, is one of two early-voting satellite sites, and also is the epicenter of the county’s pickleball mania, with more courts than any other location in the community.
At the Sept. 9 Electoral Board meeting, board chair Kim Phillip asked staff to be proactive in working with the community center’s staff in providing some dedicated parking spaces for voters.
“Once pickleball starts [for the day], that lot fills up very quickly,” she said.
The county’s director of elections, Gretchen Reinemeyer, said she’d “put in a request to have signs placed there” reserving spots for voters.
Will the (wait for it ...) net result be good or bad? Time will tell.
