J&R EntertainmentThe merchants in the Nyack have joined together through various collaborative efforts to bring business into the community. We have created discount cards, brochures, flyers, websites, and have even sponsored community events. Twice, the retailers have extended their hours one night a week, to 9pm to bring shoppers & diners into the Village. While this offer has been extremely successful, our customers have continued to complain about the parking fees. The restaurants have not seen any extra revenue from this promotion, as there is no direct benefit to them. Efforts to reimburse the Village for a “Free” parking night in light of the current economic climate, have been unsuccessful.
In these very hard times we are all struggling to make ends meet. We feel that we will be able to market and promote the idea of a ”Thursday Night Open Late” night in Nyack if we were to advertise it as a “Free” parking night. If this promotion was offered on a consistent basis, then Nyack would (hopefully) become a Thursday night destination. The stores would benefit from the additional shoppers & the restaurants would gain diners on an otherwise relatively quiet night.
We think it would be a grand gesture for the Village of Nyack to absorb the cost of the meter parking fees on Thursday evenings from 6pm til 9pm. This would be a major step toward helping the merchants through this dire period. It would also create a positive buzz on the parking situation, which, in many ways, has been a sore issue with shoppers, merchants and residents. We hope you will consider this request at the meeting on July 9th.
We will continue through our group efforts to make Nyack a destination & hope that you will help lead the way.
Patti Aagaard & Marie Somos are business owners in the Village of Nyack.
John Shields says:
In these troubled financial times Nyack should support business in the Village. The Village should support the proposal for parking forgiveness to support the downtown and, therefore, the whole Village. Empty stores are as much a detriment to residents as to the business community. I suggest that we do this for a limited time, perhaps three months, and then evaluate the effectiveness.
My main concern is that employees will take advantage of this parking forgiveness and will subvert the purpose. I hope that business owners will make sure that this does not happen.
If it is not possible for business owners to monitor their employees there is no purpose for this parking forgiveness.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:53 am
JC Brotherhood says:
Nonsense John.
When you try this I predict it will result in NO PARKING anywhere within the downtown during these hours. Regardless of how you want to blame it on the employees this will result in no turnover of the spaces that are most in demand; then we will doubtless hear more complaining about lack of available parking and the need for us to spend millions on a parking garage.
Nyack’s real estate and merchant elites still continue to believe that Nyack owes them a living. Forget about a Business Improvement District (BID) when you have a feckless Government and an apathetic constituency.
What can you say about a group (The Chamber of Commerce) who accepts a gift of free flower s for the planters from the Garden club, a truly community spirited gift, and then lobbies the Village hall to buy an ATV and pay a DPW employee to water the flowers!
In another economy it would be laughable but not these days.
While the bartenders can charge whatever they want for a martini, and a landlord can charge whatever rent he chooses, those of us who actually own and pay for the streets and their maintenance are constrained from collecting a fair market price for reasonable access our collective asset, namely the parking spaces. You chose to ignore the expert opinion we paid $35K for and marginalize an expert Parking Authority (for largely personal reasons) which outlined a sophisticated plan for better economical use of Nyacks existing assets and instead we now have a politically driven ad hoc arrangement guided largely by sycophants and other clearly unethical individuals with a financial interest in the redevelopment of Nyack. Including a parking garage.
I am not arguing against the conventional wisdom that supporting a healthy Downtown benefits everyone but I am saying enough already from those of you who don’t stay open after 5 or 6 pm during the week or even on weekends, every successful fisherman I know prefers to fish when the fish are biting, and those who would let the storefronts remain empty instead of even considering a Business Improvement District and perhaps (gasp) lowering the rents for awhile to allow for business startups to compete with the neighboring mall and flourish. No it must be the parking.
Its the old carny trick of keeping the patsies eyes focused on the left hand while the right hand picks your pocket.
Oh and by the way, when did the chairs and tables of a sidewalk cafe permit morph into stanchions and chained off sidewalks with less than 18 inches in some places to walk by all the drunks?
Please, you want some cheese with that whine?
July 4th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Dave says:
See additional commentary at Free Thursdays Needs Tweeks To Succeed
July 7th, 2009 at 5:18 am
Nyack News and Views » Park Free Thursdays Approved By Village Board says:
[...] See also: Free Parking Has Hidden Costs, Merchants Need Free Parking Night [...]
July 10th, 2009 at 6:25 am