Ban the Ace: Goulds man says it's time to move church fundraiser elsewhere

A man in the Goulds neighbourhood of St. John's is not happy his neighbourhood has become overrun with people coming for a chance to win a local church's fundraiser jackpot.

It is a great fundraiser, I don't fault that at all. But it needs now to be put into a better location.- John Peddle

The roads leading to St. Kevin's Parish were blocked with traffic for much of Wednesday evening, during the latest chase the ace night.

The $477,700 grand prize went unclaimed, which likely means an even busier night for next week's draw.

The thought of contending with another week of slow-moving traffic isn't sitting well with John Peddle, who is so annoyed with the crowds that he started a Facebook group called Ban the Ace, which as of Thursday morning had 62 members.

"It was totally blocked, there was nothing moving. Unfortunately it's just beyond what the roads can handle," he told the St. John's Morning Show.

"It is a great fundraiser, I don't fault that at all. But it needs now to be put into a better location for the traffic logistics."

While stuck in traffic Wednesday night, Peddle called the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary to voice his concerns that emergency vehicles would not be able to get through if they needed to.

Peddle said he spent a full hour trying to get through his own neighbourhood, the worst he's seen traffic since starting the Facebook group last week.

Weather and traffic hazard

While some might think having all those people in the area would be good for local businesses, Peddle thinks because of the poor weather conditions Wednesday the event actually did more harm than good by blocking regular customer traffic.

"On a night like last night where it was raining so badly everyone was just running straight through to get through the rain," he said.

With the jackpot still unclaimed, organizers at St. Kevin's Parish have decided tickets will go on sale even earlier for next Wednesday's draw, at 1 p.m.

That isn't sitting well with Peddle, who thinks it's time to move the event to a bigger area better equipped to handle the volume of traffic.

"One of the best options they could use right now is to have the event into Mile One," he said.

"It's a logistics issue for traffic itself and as the money increases it's going to be worse."