The conversation about WSSUP (Warren Street Shared Usage Program) at last night's Tourism Committee meeting began with Councilmember Ryan Wallace (Third Ward) telling his colleagues that "an overwhelming number of restaurants are asking if we are doing it again."
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| Photo: JD Urban|Hudson Hall |
Wallace made the suggestion that, in 2022, participation in WSSUP be limited to restaurants and coffee shops and that participating establishments be required to pay the City the full value of lost parking revenue. According to Gossips' calculations, that would amount to $42 a week for each space which, for the proposed duration of WSSUP 2022--Memorial Day to Labor Day--would total $588 for each space. In most instances, restaurants and coffee shops use more than one parking space. John Kane warned against making restaurants pay for lost parking revenue, citing restaurants' low profit margins and their current struggle with rising food prices.
Andy McArdle, proprietor of Isaan Thai Star, located just off Warren Street on Seventh Street, complained that lost parking on Warren Street negatively impacted his business by further limiting parking spaces available to his patrons. Sarah Dibben, proprietor of Supernatural Coffee on the 500 block of Warren Street, spoke in support of expanding into the parking lane and of the concrete barriers, which she said provided places for her patrons to sit. She told the committee that her neighbors, Oak and Baba Louie's, were also grateful for the outdoor space.
The upshot of the discussion was that the committee wants to hear from restaurant owners. The Tourism Board conducted a survey of businesses at the end of WSSUP last year, but there were only eleven responses to the survey.
Ryan Wallace ryan.wallace@cityofhudson.org
Art Frick art.frick@cityofhudson.org
Vicky Daskaloudi vicky.daskaloudi@cityofhudson.org
COPYRIGHT 2022 CAROLE OSTERINK
When an elected official uses the term "overwhelming" instead of an actual number or a range of numbers, one should be suspicious of his or her claim.
ReplyDeleteRemoving parking spaces and meter revenue and making Warren Street narrower and more dangerous was justified, I suppose, during the throes of the pandemic. Let's move on. Most everyone is comfortable eating and drinking indoors now. There is no need for this just because a few businesses would appreciate the extra space and business. Oh, sorry, I meant to write "just because an 'overwhelming' number of businesses would appreciate it." B Huston
Did I miss this, but does anyone know how much it cost to a) make those blocks and b) install/remove them? I must admit I felt like I was in Beirut, but came to admire the great decorations -- Hudson is truly a town of and for artists. peter meyer
ReplyDeleteLast April, the Common Council approved spending $10,000 for the acquisition of the concrete blocks. Apparently, there are 120 of them. https://gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com/2021/04/coming-to-main-street-near-you.html
DeleteAt the Tourism Committee meeting on Wednesday, Ryan Wallace said they cost about $60 a piece. That would total $7,200 for 120.
The blocks were hauled from Livingston and put into position by DPW. I don't know if the cost to the City of doing that--employee time and equipment use--has been calculated.
The data we have around Shared Streets in 2020 is robust and can be found here.
ReplyDeleteThe final Shared Streets evaluation that I put together is here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/93uag3ludtvnael/SHAREDSTREETS.Evaluation.2.15.21.pdf?dl=0
And the streetspace survey done from March 2021 by the previous iteration of the Tourism Board is here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gn80znafwgsytwl/TourismBoard.StreetspaceSurveyResults.3.20.21.pdf?dl=0
Of particular interest in this last survey is Question 4:
On weekends, would you like to see Warren Street open to pedestrian only traffic (except for emergency vehicles, pickup/delivers and residents)?
Of the 77 business owners
49% said every weekend
11% said 1 weekend a month
6% said 2 weekends a season
32% said never
Of the 242 Residents who completed the survey
45% said every weekend
10% said 1 weekend a month
4% said 2 weekends a season
39% said never