Parking rules pushing workers out of downtown happy hour
Nic Conde would love to stay in downtown Norfolk for a drink after work.
Instead he’s rushing to get his car out of a city-owned garage by 6 o’clock, or he’ll have to pay more.
“No one really comes out after they go to work since they have to get out at a certain time,” Conde of Norfolk said.
To turn downtown workers into holiday shoppers, the city of Norfolk pushed back the get out time to 8 pm last month.
Bil Rice manages a handful of restaurants along Granby Street, and says he saw more people coming in for happy hour.
“It’s conduive to those people if they don’t have to rush and the city made it so they didn’t have to and it was very successful,” Rice said.
In the new year, the old rules are still in place, get out by six.
“They’re leaving here as soon as possible,” said Antonio Caruana, who works at Luce on Granby Street.
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11 comments:
Having more patrons at "happy hour" due to the parking garage being open later is a paradox:
You'll end up with more drunk drivers, since they can linger longer and have more drinks before the garage deadline.
Not sure if I approve of that scenario ...
Unfortunately, some towns, just like Salisbury, never listen to WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT.
I had to laugh about an article claiming all the supposed successes Sby is experiencing. It was in the OC paper. Sounds as though you people over there are half witted and fond of electing the like. This goof ball went on and on about bike paths and other insignificant drivel when the fact stands that unemployment is through the roof, it's the top of the list for foreclosures and every other social ill known to mankind. It takes not only a big person but an honest one willing to admit that Sby is on a downward spiral for anything of any significance to occur.
When kids are robbed at gunpoint for their skateboard and all they do is talk spin, some serious character flaws are going on.
9:44 nice post.
I recently saw, I believe, Beau Oglesby, States Attny Worcester Cnty on a program and heard the same mantra that was recently spoken by LE in Wicomico and SBY that "you can't arrest your way out of the problem."
Really is that the new mentality? And I ask, why not? We have higher/longer penalties, 3 strikes, etc. Is this new mantra saying none of that worked, or are you simply too lazy to put them away for what they are doing? Right now SBY LE, encourages you not to press charges. Why is that? What is that solving? (lower stats) They are simply allowing the perp to get off and the perps know it.
One would think that when the exodus of businesses started some 20 years ago, the County, Mayor and Council would have jumped on it and encouraged businesses to stay. Over the years, Joe has posted lists of businesses that have left, only to fall on deaf ears from our elected officials
What exactly does the Chamber do? Anything useful?
Besides bike lanes and posters of dilapidated buildings what is the Mayor/Council doing?
You hit the nail on the head concerning employment or lack there of. How can a community encourage home ownership when we are living in a minimum wage retail community? How is a task force of bankers going to resolve the foreclosure issue without creating a conflict of interest or self serving policies?
We need to restructure our local government, and make it a full time city manager position, not an unprofessional uneducated part time school teacher mayor position. The Chamber needs to be more active instead of sitting on their laurels and throwing socials to a select and elite social crowd.
Its time to hire experienced professional officials.
annie, Holy Cow, I've been saying ALL of what you just said for years. In fact, most of what you said was a part of my platform when I ran for Mayor.
It seems the powers to be over ruled the voters because when I went door to door, when I spoke to people after forums, THEY GOT IT.
Mind you, it would take a LOT of work to turn things around and I do mean a LOT. Could I have done so in a 2 1/2 year term, absolutely not. I would need 12 years in that Office to actually prove results but that's not what people want to hear.
They want to read articles like the one we put up yesterday about Jake Day. Mostly complete BS but people wants results NOW, even if they won't work. Allow me to explain.
Yes, there are businesses opening up Downtown. However, I said this yesterday in a comment. Most of them won't survive. They are renting space way too cheap and the business owners are not truly being challenged. This is why you are seeing turnovers so quickly, even at such cheap rent.
Property owners really aren't helping the situation. There's no personal guarantees on the rent/space. I'm not suggesting they skyrocket the rent but in the very least they need to get QUALIFIED people who know everything they've ever worked for is on the line and if they don't come to work every day and manage that investment they'll lose everything.
Take my building for example. I've had a TON of people come to me and say they'll rent the downstairs for $1,500.00 a month. Then they want to tear down walls and some even had the stones to ask me to build it out at MY expense. These people barely have enough money to stock the business, let alone do a professional build out.
So what do I have left when they don't make it, a lot less than what I had when all the current walls were in place. I also refuse to RISK being yet another building that has turn over every year or two. It gives off the impression that the Downtown in NOT the place to be in business.
So what the Mayor and even the Chamber are doing, (in my opinion) is crap. It is doomed to fail and they need to create a Master Plan. You rid of those parking lots, your screwed as a business owner. These YOUNG people better open their eyes and challenge this Mayor before its too late! The parking garage is NOT convenient for a guy like Eric who's Barber Shop is at the end of the Plaza and elderly people being forced to walk all the way down there. I'm telling you, it will kill his business and many others too.
This school teacher of a Mayor who has no business background is absolutely clueless and REFUSES to hear or respect my business background, experience and wisdom. If it is NOT Jimmy's idea, he'll have nothing to do with it. Immature and ridiculous.
Thanks again for your comment. I, hope people start waking up and they need to do so before its too late.
Annie I can shed some light on your comment. It's all about dollars and making the public feel good. State and feds dangle money over LE agencies in the form of grants. The caveat attached in order to qualify for this "free money" is having to show a reduction in crime. This leads to LE downgrading crimes.
Stupid public falls in lockstep and actually believes crime is down.
At both the beginning and the end of the day there is only so much pie to go around.
If someone wants a meal and a drink they'll have it one place to the detriment of other competitors.
Buying a sconce, a shower curtain, etc. same story.
For many years, certainly since the old mall was built, downtown businesses have had to depend on serving a niche of one sort or other. If they were established, they fared better. If they were in very competitive niches it was a genuine struggle. How many downtown eateries have been in place for 5 years?
Net, net. Consumers with cash are in a position to shop for more exclusive goods. The recession has put the hurt on many of them, and the double whammy from Obamacare of much higher premiums and dramatically higher deductibles will constrain spending even further up the wealth chain.
11:35-Your comments speaks of what caused the problem and what the problem continues to be. Too much focus on retail/eateries. Focus should have been more diverse, such as a business or 2 that doesn't depend solely on the local economy.
10:37 True point.
And it seems, the crimes more often involve guns.
So not only are they not controlling crime, they are allowing a type of more severe crime to increase.
This alone shows how ineffective their current policies are. (can't arrest our way out of a problem)
While feeding the media info that crime is in a decline.
Realizing the topic is downtown and parking, I question, why is this the ONLY area Ireton is focusing on? I can not see how revitalizing downtown with more retail/restaurants, with minimum wage jobs is going to bring prosperity to the community.
This will simply only benefit a few select property and business owners
Our issues are on a much larger scale than a few city blocks.
If we had a City Manager focusing on the overall health and prosperity of our community, downtown would naturally fix itself.
It is all smoke and mirrors with Ireton, and this micro managing of pet projects is ineffective in the overall scheme of things.
A point on the crime issue-all these gun shot incidences that we hear about, aren't reported as crime for stat purposes. So while "officially" crime may be down, a lot of the times it's because the shooters are a bad shot or a person wasn't the target such as the case at Court Plaza recently.
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