My wife is an owner of Ice Cream Alley, so I understand that I have a vested interest, but I don’t understand the city’s reasoning behind banning outdoor seating in front of Ice Cream Alley and Wild Roots. We were given several reasons. The first is that it interferes with a parking study. If so, why is the Main Street Bar and Grille and Court Square allowed to block parking?
The second reason is that it would be expensive for the Department of Public Works to set up the areas. As a former employee of the DPW, I know that their highly skilled operators could accomplish the task in at most an hour. So the cost seems negligible, especially for the payoff of having a thriving culture downtown.
The last reason is that neighbors “complained.” That could be legitimate, but there was no discussion whatsoever, and it seems odd that the retail businesses would be against the thousands of people stopping to get food, and check out the shops in the area. It feels like this decision has been made without thinking about how it affects our downtown as a whole.
Noah Hull Diamond,
Greenfield