Sherman and many others said that although it’s a popular tourist destination, downtown New Paltz is not “welcoming. There are no parking signs that direct people; we’re now charging more money for meters and allowing less time.”
David Santner, owner of the Bakery on North Front Street, said that he was happy to hear that the Village Board is being “flexible” and suggested that the meters go “back to what they were, both in time and price. The only purpose of meters is to prevent people who live in nearby apartments from parking in those spots 24 hours straight. Barring that, those spaces are there to attract customers, let them stay a while. I want my customers to have something to eat and then take a stroll and shop at Rock and Snow or other downtown businesses.”
Rich Gottlieb of Rock and Snow said, “The future is here, yet I feel like we’re in the Great Depression and we’ve opened up the food pantry and everyone’s vying for ten beans. I’ve been here since the early 1980s. Minnewaska has become a state park and doubled in size, the Mohonk Preserve has doubled in size, my business has doubled in size, the amount of people coming into our community for all of the amazing resources we have has quadrupled in size — and yet we’re still trying to divvy up ten beans!
“We need plans that work for the present and the future. We’re a community driven by ecotourism, agritourism, and yet we’re still trying to squeeze a parking space in here or arguing about how long a meter should run. What we need is a parking garage, free parking. We need the Chamber of Commerce downtown that also serves as a welcoming spot and an information center.”
Gottlieb said in his estimation, “The town and village have a lot of money and resources that aren’t being leveraged towards the planning we need to all prosper. Why didn’t we get a theater downtown? It wasn’t because some neighbors didn’t want it. It was because we did not have the parking in place for it. Why is that, if we put a canoe in the Wallkill River and tip over, that we have to risk going to a doctor? I think it’s time for big-picture plans and not small-bean plans. It’s here, folks.”
Mike Russo said that, while he applauded members of the board for saying they made a mistake and want to go back and fix it, in his mind the issue here is “process. How did the process go so wrong that almost no one in this room was aware of these major changes? You’ve put into place a 400 percent increase. That level of increase creates a shock and a crisis. I remember when the Mid-Hudson Bridge toll went from 25 cents to 50 cents. That was a 100 percent increase and took some time to adjust to. But a 400 percent increase? That’s untenable.”
“I want to go straight back to the drawing board, bring in as many of our business-owners as we can. And I also prefer returning the meter fees to what they were,” said Rotzler.
Several of the business-owners said that they would welcome a chance to be on a committee and work with the board towards creating a plan that would help local businesses, encourage tourism and patronage, as well as a signage plan that would make it easy for visitors to know where they can park and what restaurants, businesses, cultural, recreational, historical and retail resources were available once they’ve arrived.
In the meantime, the Village Board members agreed to bag every meter in the core business district — with the exception of the two blocks along Main Street — for no more than two weeks, until they could meet and hopefully amend the plan. They set a special meeting to discuss amending the plan, and if adopted, direct the DPW to have the meter company reset the digital meter-programming device for more than the two existing options. That meeting will take place this Tuesday (too late for the New Paltz Times deadline), Sept. 3 at the Village Hall.
