Council President James Noble: “We’re just
starting …”
KINGSTON – Members of Kingston’s business community spoke
out Tuesday night against a proposed 15-foot wide bike lane along Broadway
in the city.
A number of business owners located on the proposed strip told the Common Council that the lane would hurt their businesses.
The new bike lane will take up approximately 40 to 55 parking spaces that run along Broadway. Gabe Sacali, co-owner of Monkey Joe’s Roasting Company said due to the activity of most of their patrons, it will definitely cost them business.
“The thing is that, in effect, it would be taking any customer that’s headed, I guess it’s in a westerly direction, down Broadway would more likely pass us by, rather than stop and patronize our businesses because most of our businesses are designed around people that are coming and going, work, lunch, whatever and they stop, they pick up what they want and they leave; they don’t really stay that long, they’re in and out. So, we really depend on parking,” said Sacali.
Nick Moritsus of Dallas Hot Weiners agreed with Sacali.
“That’s a lot of parking spaces, ok,” said Moritsus. “If you take them away, we’re definitely going to be slower. So, you take away parking, you take away business; that’s the bottom line.”
Dallas Hot Wieners has locations on both Broadway and Uptown Kingston. Moritsus said he knows what lack of parking can do to a business because when a parking garage next to their Uptown location was previously shut down, they lost noticeable business.
According to Common Council President James Noble Jr., there’s not much the city can do because this project is being undertaken by Ulster County, but, a dialogue has been started.
“We’re just starting to get into the questions and the people talking about it and stuff now through the city and we’re having a person come on public safety this month to give us the highlights of the plan,” said Noble. “So, we have heard concerns about what they don’t like about the plan, mainly parking and now this person will come and tell us what’s good about the plan and why he thinks it should be entertained; but then, the public hearing will come and people will be talking to that on both sides of the issue.”
The business community is not just concerned with their profits either, they are also concerned about safety.
Bill Hudden, landlord for Monkey Joe’s Roasting Company, said his personal research has led him to believe that a bike route, rather than a bike lane through the city, would be much more practical and safe.
“In reality, every advocacy group that I have looked up says a bike route is safer than a bike lane; in the fact that you have to abide by the rules of traffic and you learn to do that, in a non-busy situation, if you take a back street, not using the rules on a busy street and getting hurt” said Hudden.
A public hearing on the bike lane plan is scheduled for November at the Kingston City Hall.
