[RP TownTalk] [TownTalk] traffic issues con't.

[Alan Thompson and Sarah Wayland]

> You make an interesting point about the town center and traffic. The
> question is: do we want to encourage the people in our community to walk
> to those stores or do we want to encourage people from other places
> around town to drive to it?

Or both! Years ago I was talking to a business owner whose business is 
located on Route 1. I was talking to him about the space in Town Center. 
His comment stuck with me. He said that in order to survive and prosper, 
a business needs to serve both local and nonlocal customers. It was his 
feeling that the space in our Town Center is less desirable than 
space on Route 1 because it was harder to find and get to. This means that 
people from out of town might not risk going there.

I think we all love the idea of locally-owned and operated businesses that 
serve the local community. But we need to recognize how hard it is for a 
business owner to succeed if they are only serving the relatively few 
people who can walk to Town Center.

> On the other hand, maybe opening Queensbury and Riverdale Rd to traffic
> only in the evenings (say after 6 or 7?) and on the weekends would
> strike a good balance?

I think this is a really interesting idea....

> Oh, and are our hands tied with regard to the "slum lord" who owns the
> town center buildings?

And that's a whole different discussion...

When you figure out how to motivate someone who owns private property to 
do something different than what they want to do, let me know! :-)

The only control we have is to enforce our own codes, and to insure that 
new construction conforms to the zoning guidelines.

-Sarah