Local Officials Put New Rules, Guidelines In Place For Chesney Fans
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Kenny Chesney's "Big Revival Tour" is coming to Pittsburgh this weekend; and anytime Chesney comes to town, so do thousands of his fans.
The city is preparing for any possible concert chaos. They have already issued warnings about parking and tailgating on the North Shore.
If all goes well, the stigma currently associated with the Chesney crowd may be on its way to the oldies' rack.
"We want to see everyone have a good time, but in a responsible way," said Merrill Stabile, the president of ALCO Parking.
Officials are trying to avoid trashed parking lots, so the promoter, police, Heinz Field and the parking lot brains had multiple jam sessions.
They came up with a number of steps, starting with keeping the area around the stadium and it's parking lots sealed off to all traffic until 1 p.m. Saturday.
"We're basically trying to compact the time they're spending in the lots, because if you're in a parking lot for eight hours, that is going to lead to the kind of behavior that we don't want to have, said Stabile.
Police will patrol neighboring areas preventing any pre-parking partying.
When cars do enter the lots at 1 p.m., they will be given and asked to use trash bags. Then, when the gates open at 4 p.m., fans will be encouraged to head for their seats.
Everyone must be out of the parking lots when Chesney hits the stage around 7 p.m.
"If you are still in the parking lot at 7 p.m., the police will come and nicely ask you to leave the parking lot," said Pittsburgh Operations Director Guy Costa. "So, no tailgating in the parking lot after 7 p.m."
Clean-up crews will take advantage of the fans being inside the stadium to do some initial cleaning in the parking lots.
After the show, officials say they don't want fans to linger in the lots too long.
"Police will be there to make sure they are leaving within a half hour to an hour after the concert ends," said Stabile.
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