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Crackerbarrel Alley Letter With Signatures (1)Letter of Our Concerns To Mayor N arkewicz and N orthampton City Councilors, We are a community of people with a vital interest in the Masonic Street Parking Lot. In addition to the Masonic L ot being a vital resource for the everyone w ho uses our Downtown, we as stakeholders have businesses, offices, medical practices, homes and property adjacent to the Masonic Lot. M ost of us have invested blood, sweat, and tears to build their business and practices in our Dow ntow n. W e have invested substantial time, effort, and financial resources to be a vital part of what makes Downtown N orthampton the special place that it is. We the stakeholders strongly feel that the City of Northampton has a clear obligation to involve all the stakeholders in any and all changes or modifications of use or design of the Masonic Parking L ot. W e assert that not only is this need for stakeholder input a logical and ethical mandate, it is a very practical necessity as well. Many of the M asonic Lot stakeholders have decades of real world on-the-ground practical experience in the problems, challenges, and realities of function of all of the uses and activities in the Lot. We understand how the Masonic Lot actually functions, in a practical rather than a theoretical way. We recognize, even when the larger Northampton community does not always act as if it does, that the vitality of the Downtow n Northampton E conomic E ngine – the w ell being of its business, arts, dining and entertainment establishments – is central to and the foundation of the economic and social well being of the entire City of Northampton. We cannot be casual about how critical and how fragile the economic and social gem Downtown is and the vital connection to the greater community. It is frustrating and demeaning to those of us who invest our time and our efforts to be cut out of the decision process that affects the stakeholders and this community. Trying to operate our businesses is challenging enough without additional obstacles placed upon us. We have specific serious concerns about the proposed City plan to eliminate our Parking Lot’s vehicular access through Crackerbarrel Alley, and to make it into a park. We are not nay-sayers, and we care about this area. We are willing to be part of a meaningful dialogue about how to improve the safety and aesthetic appeal of this area. We believe safety and aesthetics are desirable and achievable goals, and are readily achievable w ithout the loss of this critical vehicular access. We believe that eliminating the vehicular access is ill-advised and potentially dangerous for many reasons including: • Losing this vehicle access route presents a clear danger to public safety and puts lives and property at greater risk. Modern egress design for parking lots and gathering areas strives for maximum safe exit routes. It is easy to imagine an emergency or disaster such as a fire, water main break etc that could close off the Masonic Street vehicular exit. Crackerbarrel Alley is an essential emergency exit route to clear vehicles from the Masonic lot. Closing vehicular access could not only endanger people and vehicles, but the inability to have an alternate route to clear the lot could complicate the work of emergency personnel. • Creating a gathering spot such as a parklet at a critical crossw alk puts pedestrians crossing Main Street at greater risk. In a location where sight lines for vehicles traveling on our Main Street are already challenging, rather than making the street crossing safer, this parklet complicates safe street crossing, creates visual confusion for motorists, and could put pedestrians and motorists at greater risk. • There are simpler and more effective solutions to providing for enhanced pedestrian and motor vehicle safety in this area. These solutions are much less expensive and readily achievable. Many of these steps could have been taken years ago at virtually no cost, if safety in this area is such a pressing concern. • Effective delivery of goods and services to the Main Street businesses is vital to their w ell being. Removing the Crackerbarrel vehicular access will have a substantial negative impact on these businesses’ ability to quickly and effectively receive delivery access. In addition, closing off this vehicular access will contribute to additional public safety problems on Main St. T he Masonic Street access to the rear of these businesses is frequently blocked by cars and trucks making delivery vehicle entry there time consuming and sometimes not practical. Inevitably delivery vehicles will decide that their only feasible delivery option is to double park on M ain St. Anyone who has watched the traffic and pedestrian flow around double parked delivery vehicles has seen how they add to the risks for pedestrians and other vehicles. • Ease of customer parking is the critical lifeblood of retail vitality. Removing a key access route to the public parking lot will compromise the effective access to the parking that is an essential business resource for a w hole section of Main St. Loss of this entrance will make it dramatically more difficult for many to access the lot. In addition, it will redirect even more traffic to the M asonic entrance. T he M asonic entrance is already challenged and complicated by big box trucks, poor design, and inadequate entrance width. Adding even more traffic to this will add to the frequent chaos and gridlock that regularly occurs there. This increases the pedestrian and vehicular safety risk in an area of M asonic Street where there is already a lot of pedestrian traffic. • Putting a parklet on or immediately adjacent to this spot on M ain Street will compromise pedestrian flow. E ase of pedestrian access to our businesses is not only a safety issue, it directly impacts the w alking and shopping experience of the customers we are trying to attract to shop in our D owntown. The City and businesses have spent years of effort and a lot of money to improve pedestrian access for our Downtown–the City should not take counterproductive steps. • The City is proposing a construction project immediately adjacent to major Dow ntow n buildings. T he parklet and the use and noise and other adverse impacts of the parklet w ill hurt these tax-paying businesses. If those businesses had wanted to alter their buildings or change their use, they w ould have been required to go through a lengthy regulatory and hearing process with public input. Yet the City has gone through their planning process which would result in significant collateral damage to these businesses, without notice to the most affected parties, or without their having an ability to have a meaningful part in the planning process. We, the undersigned stakeholders and member of this community, ask that all design and implementation work on Crackerbarrel Ally be halted until the stakeholders can be part of a full assessment of all aspects of this. We also ask that the City in this circumstance, and in all future proposed changes to this vital area, bring all the stakeholders into the process in a meaningful w ay at the earliest stages. We are citizens who are actively committed to the betterment of our City. We are well aware, and do not casually dismiss, the reasons why the parklet and closure of Crackerbarrel Alley w ere proposed by City Planners. However as the most proximal stakeholders we are fully aw are of all of the challenges and dynamics in this area, and we fundamentally disagree with the City’s assessment of the benefits or need for this proposed radical change. We believe that a careful examination of the realities will demonstrate that: • This proposal is not the most effective w ay to enhance pedestrian and vehicle safety and may actually put pedestrians and motorists at greater risk. • There are other nearby parks and gathering spaces that readily meet the needs for recreational gathering, and this is a poor choice for a parklet because of its location, slope, wind tunnel, and other limiting factors. This is even more compelling now that Pulaski Park, right across the street, has been extensively renovated. • It is clear that in this theoretical and narrow-view design process, the substantial negative impacts and costs of the discontinuance of Crackerbarrel A lley and creation of a parklet have not been realistically factored into the decision process. This includes a clear negative impact on the adjacent businesses and pedestrian congestion, and adds intrusive noise disruption of residences and business offices. It will further complicate the Police Department’s task of addressing drug dealing in the area. • The location of this parklet, immediately adjacent to downtown residences, adds security and safety issues for their homes. It also would add new fire hazards to the entire row of downtown buildings. We have a stark example of this hazard at the recent Center Street fire and near disaster. • The purported safety enhancements envisioned by the City’s plan fail to view the entire area comprehensively, and this plan as proposed poses very real and serious public safety risks. We the undersigned ask for your consideration of, and action on, our concerns. Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter. Authorized Signatories to Letter of Concern re: Crackerbarrel Alley Name Designation Address Alli Jukiro Business Owner Dobra Tea 186 Main Street Cathy Cross Business Owner Cathy Cross Inc. 151 Main Street Christine Buchholz Business Owner Viva Fresh Pasta 249 Main Street Danny McCarthy Business owner Faces 175 Main Street Denise Coyne, EVP and Chief Operations Officer Abutter / Business Owner Greenfield Savings Bank 207 Main Street Dmitri Robbins Business & Property Ownr Woodstar Café 60 Masonic Street Fred Gohr Business & Property Owner Fitzwilly’s 23 Main Street Jane A. Merrill Store Manager / Downtown Stakeholder Silverscape Designs 1 King Street Jena Sujat Business Owner PINCH 179 Main Street Joe Blumenthal Business & Property Owner Downtown Sounds 21 Pleasant Street Judith Herrell Business Owner Herrell’s 8 Old South Street Julie Mencher Business Owner Psychotherapist, Private Practice 199 Main Street Kari Knapp, Standick Trust Property & Business Owner 164 Main Street; 27 Brewster Court Katelyn Rennie Business Owner and Resident 29 Central Business: 150 Main Street Residence: 209 Main Street Konstantine Sierros Business & Property Owner 197 Main Street Direct Abuter to Crackerbarrel Alley Filos Greek Taverna Laura Berg Store Leader Eileen Fisher 24 Pleasant Street Luahn Page Stakeholder JoiaBeauty 6 Crafts Avenue Nancy Cowen Business Owner Happy Valley Gifts 177 Main Street Nancy Donato Business Owner J. Rich Clothing for Men 153 Main Street Pamela Smith, LMT Business Owner Journeys Within Massage Therapy 39 Main Street, Suite 32 Patrick Pezzati Business Owner Turn It Up! 5 Pleasant Street Paul Milani Business Owner Viva Fresh Pasta 249 Main Street Rebecca Robbins Business & Property Owner Woodstar Café 60 Masonic Street Rich Madowitz Property Owner 207-211 Main Street Richard Abuza Property & Business Owner Abuza Brothers Management 177-181 Main Street Siobhan Silver Business Owner Creative Therapy 199 Main Street, Suite 4 Wallace Perlman Property & Business Owner Silverscape Designs 1 King Street