Saranac Lake’s parking wars
So here’s the good news: A lot of people want to park in downtown Saranac Lake, where the thriving main street has a new flurry of shops and restaurants opening.
A lot of small towns across the North Country would kill for the problem of too many cars vying for convenient places to stop and run in for a sandwich or to get a prescription filled.
Now the bad news: A nasty turf war has flared up between a private property owner, whose parking lot is central to the downtown business district, and the village government.
This week, the owners — who also operate the Sears outlet on main street — declared the parking spaces off-limits to most drivers.
In the past, the spaces were public under an arrangement with local government officials.
The relationship soured when negotiations over a permanent sales price turned contentious.
“We sent a reasonable offer to their attorney, but we haven’t heard anything,” [village manager John] Sweeney told the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. “That’s why we’re surprised to see they’ve made a private lot.”
Local businesses are caught in the dust-up at a time when local businesses need every customer they can get, and tempers are rising. Again from the Enterprise:
“Nobody let us know that this was happening, and we’re stuck in the middle,” said Nori’s Village Market co-owner Lori Dodge-Cushman. “We’re trying to remain neutral because we really don’t have a choice.”
She asked people to contact the Sears owners and the village and urge them to “negotiate, mediate, sit down and be grown-ups about it, and drop the junior high crap.”
I am not a big fan of eminent domain, but this seems like a perfect situation to use it. The owners want to sell to the village, the village need a parking lot and wants to buy it but can only pay fair market value. If taken through eminent domain, the owner gets fair market value and the village gets their parking.
The idea of many proposing the use of eminent domain (see comments on ADE website) surprises me considering the conservative nature of the SL area. Let the free market system work. If the Sears owners want to alienate their fellow shop owners and customers, that is their option. If their decision is wrong, I assume they won’t be in business for long. Unfortunately, it is going to hurt the businesses on Main St. at the same time.
It’s bad enough the lot is gone. What is up with the overzealous rule enforcement of the remaining parking spaces? My vehicle was parked on Main St today WITHIN THE WHITE LINES but just over 12″ from the curb. Definitely not blocking any traffic, at all. But officer Muldowney gave me a $20 ticket. Very limited parking and overzealous parking police. What are Manager Sweeney and Mayor Rabideau doing to encourage (rather than DISCOURAGE) people from patronizing the local businesses! Perhaps they should ask our police to help people find parking, and to assist with traffic control as they try to squeeze their vehicles right up next to the curb, rather than just having the police exacerbate an already bad situation for the locals who are trying to keep the bucks flowing to Main Street?
ihear the owners are now negotiating with interests to build a mosque on the property.