ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — When thousands of people poured into Eatonville recently for a classic car show, the traffic and police presence in Maitland that it caused has created a rift between the two cities.
Maitland Mayor A. Dale McDonald drafted a letter to the Eatonville city leaders, saying they did not adequately prepare for the event.
“(The) event was too large for your venue. Parking was not adequate,” McDonald said in the letter.
The traffic problems caused by the event created “a negative impact on our residents’ quality of life,” the letter said.
The monetary cost was incurred, because “every available Maitland police officer was on duty to direct traffic or protect our city,” the letter said.
Eatonville Mayor Anthony Grant said there haven’t been any complaints coming from previous large events in his city.
Grant said much of the problem was caused by road shutdowns and limited access to other roadways in Maitland, which wasn’t Eatonville’s fault.
“I don’t think it would be fair to the taxpayers of Eatonville to pay for something, the decisions that city of Maitland made,” he said.