MORE FREE PARKING DOWNTOWN!
If you were one of the more than 4,000+ people who celebrated New Years Eve in Berlin, one of the most impressive parts about being there was the FACT that there was plenty of FREE parking for the event.
Yet the Mayor is making it his #1 priority for 2014 to ADD even more free parking.
What a shame it is to see a much smaller Town on the Eastern Shore blowing away the City of Salisbury when it comes to Shops being full, economic development and even more important, an exciting Master Plan/Vision for future growth.
Berlin doesn't have a River running through the heart of their Downtown. They don't have a Salisbury Festival. Yet they blow away Salisbury in Downtown Tourism.
I'm getting one phone call after the other ever since I put up that WBOC Post last night because people are outraged. People know we need more parking Downtown and selling off those lots for pennies on the dollar is just ridiculous.
If a Town like Berlin can see the light and even be light years ahead of Salisbury, it's time the citizens wake up and demand Mayor Ireton and the City Council stop this immediately.
We are supposed to rely and depend on smart marketing out of the Mayor's Office and that just is not the case. Selling that Fire House for $75,000.00 was not in the best interest of the Citizens and guess what, those are YOUR parking lots. YOU paid for them, YOU own them.
We need FREE parking to start with and Salisbury doesn't even offer that. My hat is tipped to Mayor Gee Williams and the Citizens of Berlin.
23 comments:
well they havent sold any parking as of yet that i am aware of, it is just an idea they are tossing around
Easton got rid of their parking meters and not long ago Chestertown "bagged" there's to test the waters and see if business increased. Not sure the end results.
Easton had to do it because it was a way to entice the really wealthy who live outside of town who have odd idiosyncrasies such as hating being nickeled and dimed to death.
I go to the dentist in downtown Berlin. Last time I had an appointment I was early so I browsed around an antique store and ended up spending nearly $200 there. Sometimes free parking is a nightmare if a funeral is going on at Burbage. If I had to pay to park I would consider a new dentist. Berlin is an area where no one really has to go to, and when that's the case the prudent thing to do, is make it convenient as possible.
The Town of Berlin does NOT have any FREE parking. They town is very lucky to have people such as Taylor Bank, Barrett Family, Jay Bergey, and others who allow use of their OWN property for parking. The town is fortunate that the fire company and farmers market could work something out. Gee tries to take credit for this idea as well in the last week local newspapers. Berlin and Gee sh*t on these same business owners by charging rain tax (stormwater) fees, make them jump thru hoops for simple street signs, etc. he is now trying to spread this BS in Salisbury and getting them to charge for stormwater. I wish for once people would see thru Gee Williams BS. Now another government employee has been hired to run the events so Mike Day can help develop Councilman's Troy Purnell's Tyson Property. I hope that Mike Day is going to help sell all the other properties around town so it is fair to everyone, not special treatment to a councilman.The Chamber of Commerce could do this, but then Gee wouldn't be in control, would he? I would like to see a week or weekend when these businesses and owners shut down their parking. Gee is now trying to bully his way to condemn some properties on West Street to get some actually town parking. I hear he is finally getting the message that these people are sick of him so he is trying to get some actual Town owned parking lots. Hope he has a good plan to raise taxes to get all this money he is expending for the new police department, new town run fire and ambulance department, parking, new ditches and all the problems that 900 new apartments on Seahawk Rd is going to cause. I agree that Berlin is a nice place to visit with all the shops, etc. just not a good place to live...
anonymous 10:42, Thank you for your comment. However, is there free parking in Berlin or not? I know of MANY people who went thereon New Years Eve and did NOT pay for parking and more importantly there was plenty of parking available.
Now think about the true topic of this Post. IF the City of Salisbury sells off the TAXPAYER owned parking lots, where will everyone park on let's say a New Years Eve event? Keep in mind now, let's say the new high rises are in place with residents occupying them and own cars. THINK! Let's say the stores on the first floor are smart enough to stay open during big events to MAKE MONEY.
It's the cart before the horse.
salisbury will never learn thanks sjd
Joe--I am sorry if I made things confusing. I will clarify. The parking is free to the public. IT is made free by the very kindness of the property owners. At any time, they have the right to stop the public from parking free. My point is don't give credit to the Town of berlin or gee Williams for this. Give credit to the very kind property owners who continue to allow this. They do this without a thank you or anything. The town charges them stormwater management fees on these lots. They have sucked it up and paid for the fees. If I was them, I would charge for parking to recoup the fees being charged by the town. Gee continues to tell the churches and everyone no exceptions. He is hard to work with, no compromise. his way or no way. I don't know what he has on all the council as they don't speak up either. If he says it they believe it and vote for it. Again sorry for the confusion. I was trying to stay with your topic of taxpayer owned lots, etc. The lots in Berlin are owned by again very kind property owners who allow this. It is the town who stabs these private owners in the checkbook and is now using their condemn rights to try to take properties on West St at low prices to get some parking.
So sorry for the confusion.
Joe, there is no charge for parking in Salisbury after 4:30, weekends and holidays, so parking was free in SBY, too.
10:42 answered my question before I asked it, which was, does Berlin have preferential giveaway like SBY?
It seems the answer is "yes."
As for the stormwater crap, it's inevitable, thanks to the state and EPA.
Is there really any question on where a person would rather go? Berlin, as quaint as homely as it is, is a destination. Salisbury's downtown isn't. You have to entice people to come to downtown, make it a destination worth visiting often. How that happens? It's above my pay grade(but I could certainly afford the properties lol)
berlin gets it, period. love to go to berlin to shop and eat. great town with great atmosphere. great businesses and eateries.
Salisbury, on the other hand, is NOT business friendly or customer friendly. atmosphere is iffy and parking; well you know what that's been for the past 40 years plus.
born and raised in Salisbury and knows Delmarva like the back of my hand. been to the circus and seen the elephants at 66 yrs. old. can speak with experience and confidence. period.
You people need to stop fooling yourselves. The majority of the retail businesses in Berlin are hobbies for the owners and not money makers. Anyone who is in Berlin on a routine basis knows the same merchandise sits in the stores something for years. One of the few businesses that doesn't rely exclusively on the whims of people is the jewelry store which does repairs and watch batteries and the shoe repair. On any given day (unless an event is going on) Berlin is void of foot traffic and would be completely dead if not for the doctors and dentist offices. On most Sundays and evenings year round the town pulls in it's sidewalks come 5pm and it isn't unusual if at a restaurant to be only one of a few tables being used.
You people in Sby act like it's some kind of hustle bustle place with people throwing money at the businesses. Nothing could be further from the reality of the place.
anonymous 12:37, while what you may say might be true, (hard to tell when someone posts anonymously) what would happen to Berlin if almost ALL of the parking available was removed and or placed a good distance away. And you should actually give thanks to Mike Day for a job well done bringing such traffic to such a small Town. Look, Mike and I rarely ever see eye to eye but no one can deny his success there. So do tell me, who's doing the same full time for Salisbury, Jake Day, Mayor Ireton?
The cute little Mexican restaurant in Berlin is closed until sometime in February. A lot of the businesses are closed most of the time and only open sporadically.
12:37 You Obviously don't go to Berlin very often. I drive through at least twice a day and there is always foot traffic. In the summer Berlin is booming with tourists. I can't see how these businesses are "hobbies." If they were run as such they wouldn't last very long.
'lin > 'bury...nuff said
12:55-I worked in an office in Berlin for years and there were days where we could count on just both hands how many people walked by on Main St. We used to actually point out when someone did walk by. I will agree in the summer it did pick up....some, but on an average day with no special event going on, it's an exaggeration to say it's "booming." I'd say about 50% of the stores or so are only open regularly with set hours. Vehicle traffic is just about constant. I knew and know most of the business owners and yes, these businesses are not the main source of their incomes.
Imagine trying to have a dental or medical practice in downtown Salisbury! People in the chair realizing the meter needs to be fed or running out of the waiting room to feed the meter and missing their appointments! LOL!
Nice that one need not worry about that in Berlin, Cambridge, Easton....
Good thing about Salisbury is that we have parking in short distance to stores. Thing is, there's FREE parking at all the competitor stores! Why open up a store in front of a parking meter when everybody else can do it without that barrier.
Berlin just does better press.
I know many people from there and they agree that is it not the "busy downtown" it's made out to be.
Not saying it isn't nice, quaint, cute, etc. I give them credit for trying.
But don't believe everything you see and hear unless it's your own eyes and your own ears right there to observe for yourself.
anonymous 6:16, LMAO!!!! This coming from a person who knows of a person related to a personal friend that things aren't what they seem, UNLESS YOU SEE IT FOR YOURSELF.
Thanks for that great laugh, with all due respect.
agree with 6:16 Gee OWNS the press--they always sway everything the way he wants it--he lost his friend Greg Bassett so we will see how the Daily Times does on the next Berlin story--he is also well connected with politics---this is how he gets his "made up" job with State highway as the press release guy. I will challenge everyone to try to find his salary in the State searches. For some reason it doesn't show. If someone can find it, please post it so we can see it. There are plenty of links to see what everyone makes but for some reason his does not show anywhere.
anonymous 9:24, please don't suggest Gee Williams or anyone else owns Salisbury News.
I would not suggest Gee owns Salisbury News and it was probably a bad choice of words. however just as the original article says "hat is tipped to Gee Williams"--again he is getting positive press for something he is not doing--the correct statement to give credit to citizens of Berlin is right on the money--these property owners that kindly allow their properties to used as free parking need the credit--Gee is sticking it up their buts with more charges and we have not heard the tip of the iceberg on this new police station he mentions and the secret take over of fire and ambulance he has been planning for many months nothing as mentioned in the other comments seems to get out to the public--my apologies to you for the improper choice of words--thanks.
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