What is you opinion on the sale of the parking lot behind the Park Restaurant, I would like to know before elections. thanks

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Hi and welcome to the forums esinedh433. I wish I could answer this for you but you will be waiting a long time for one due to the fact Mayor Brown does not post here.

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The owner of the Park has been a Steve Brown supporter for years. Check Mr. Browns campaign statements with the County. I'll bet they (Park Rest. owners) thought they would get a better deal than what they are getting...they didn't know Steve that well I guess.

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I don't understand why everyone is in a tizzy about this now.

This plan was approved YEARS ago. The only thing now is that it's finally happening. If the Park Restaurant was so concerned about the parking, why did they not take appropriate action YEARS ago?

Come to meetings now, get your friends to come, but ya know what, in my opinion, you waited too long. I'm hoping these condos are built and add something nice to our community. It's about time that project gets going.

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Maybe, "they" must of left it to the experts to make the decisions and now don't like the outcome. Experts don't need imput from anyone.

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Compare the plans that were approved by the full mayor and council to the construction going on now. Nothing has changed. It's the same thing that was in front of mayor and council YEARS ago and approved.

There's statutes of limitations for a reason. If the Park Restaurant had a problem with this project, they should have brought these concerns YEARS ago. Trying to stop it now is only hurting another private business -- the developers.

If they have a beef, I would assume, they'd say it is with the city for allowing this development. But instead, by waiting till now, after 13 condos are built, they're only trying to needlessly financially ambush the developers. That's just wrong.

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You would think that the builders of the condos would be more buisness friendly i go the the bank there a lot for work and there is very little parking avaliable for the customers, how can a buisness survive through construction without any parking?

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Donnabird,

As Wolverine said, and I quote:

"I don't understand why everyone is in a tizzy about this now.

This plan was approved YEARS ago. The only thing now is that it's finally happening. If the Park Restaurant was so concerned about the parking, why did they not take appropriate action YEARS ago?"

SO I guess if the businesses didn't complain when they should have and they don't have enough parking NOW they should just DIE...

Just that simple...why are they in a Tizzy?

Hum? I can't imagine why...

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You would have thought that M/C would not have approved anything like this unless it was fair to the businesses involved. They should have bought out those businesses on Fort St. and redeveloped the entire block w/exception of National City. All you have now is half a#*ed built condos behind old businesses. The DDA/M/C put a whole lot of thought into that one.

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I have absolutley no problem with the condos being built as i said before i hope i am happily suprised and they look really nice, but in my opinion they should have maintained parking for our current buisness's and the contractors/ builders should respect that and try to comply by keeping the designated parking areas clean of debri so other buisness's can function too.

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What builder! Myself looking from the outside in- a builder would not have built the condos the way they are being erected. A good lending institution or a building department of city would not let it happen. A builder would have a schedule of different construction phases and would advise the local businesses and the taxpayer of the dates -because the word of mouth is the best advertisement & we all want good neighbors. The underground work would have been done first. Basement slab would be poured early in the construction phase. One of the condos would have been finished in the first 120 days & used as a model as the others units are sold & finished. The parking lot behind the Park Restaurant would have been rehab in days and in a way that would have the least negative impact.

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Veritas Scriptor (09-01-05)

Before we blame the Mayor or the former Council or the DDA lets look at the facts. The land was sold for a dollar to get the project going. I wasn't on the council back then but I know the members of the DDA, and I know if they sold the property for a dollar they must have been convinced this is what needed to be done at the time to make the deal fly. The DDA members are all GOOD, solid,business people who care deeply our city. Back when this project was first mentioned, I was opposed to a few condos because I thought no one would want to buy into a few condos right in the middle of a business complex. Later after the plan had already been approved, they came back and wanted to do a major development. I looked at it like this: A family sits down and discusses buying a family car. Personally, I don't want to buy the car but most of the family does want it, so we decide to buy one. Now that the decision to buy the car has been made, I absolutely refuse to buy a Yugo. If we have to have a new car, I want one that is worth buying! This was the same prediciment I found myself in with the condos. I didn't want a small, plan with little or no value, but because the decision had been made to have the condos, I wanted it to be an upscale program and I supported
what I thought would be a better value to our city. So did the Mayor and so did the DDA.
That said, we were all told that when the upscale program was completed, there would be over 70 parking spaces for the businesses. The cars using that parking were counted for weeks and the usual amount of vehicles using that lot was around 35 to 40. Lately, I have been counting cars again and there are usually less than 35 cars using this lot during the day. When the condo program is completely finished, we will still have twice that many parking spots for business to use.
The problem is in the INTERM. The parking lot is now torn up (for a couple weeks they claim) and it has made it TEMPORARILY difficult for business. Once it has been completed, and the condos sold, the DDA anticipates that these businesses will directly benefit from the business that those condo parking owners will provide, and I agree. My only problem at this time is that temporary parking has to be provided and we have taken steps to see that this happens. The condo developer has not been business friendly to his business neighbors and we are in the process of letting him know HE HAS TO BE!
For all practical purposes this should work out well in the end. We have a responsibility to stop second guessing other councils and the DDA. We also have to give Bill Hatley a break because he was not in charge when this first got started, it was thrown in his lap. Knowing Bill, he will do everything in his power to take a difficult situation and make it run as best that is humanly possible!

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Wolverine (08-30-05), Leslie (08-30-05)

I think you're right Wolverine.

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In defense of the owner of the Park restaurant, let me say that he came to the meetings back then. He also protested the development back then as well. He is hoping for the best. He hopes that the DDA and the council are right in the assumption that the condos will bring business his way. What he has ligitimate fears about is the condo developers ability to get the job done in a timely manner. I share those concerns because we have had to continually go after this guy. I have promised the business people that we will stay on him to make sure he " dots every eye, and crosses every T of the contract" ti make sure there is no more inconvenience than there needs to be.

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Thank You Mr. Murphy quite insightful..you give a good explanation to an age old problem. How to make way for new development? We must all support the business's in that area so that they get through this transistion period and not go away like Lincoln Park Hardware is looking to...Closing up. Let us band together, Rat or no Rat and support all the business in the DDA and keep this a healthy and strong City...........

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Sunday Night Floyd's and the other restaurant were the only ones open. There were 61 cars the lot next to the Fort Park was empty. behind the empty Paint and wallpaper store. Someone was playing politics again . The 2 bars and The coney island have larger requirements for parking than the park ever will . Why aren't they complaining Politics . The Park held out on offers and shafted his neighbors when they all accepted. The bank was offered a spot in the new mall . One Bar owner was offered $189,000 and /or a new location of his choosing . All the businesses were offered relocation on that block. The next block was given an offer too . The Adult store could have been gone . They were given an offer too.

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And he's hoping for $50,000 outta the city and he's hoping to temporarily stop the condos from being built. You ARE aware that he is suing the city, aren't you councilman? I read about it in the news-herald. I hope this isn't another one of those lawsuits that no one seems to know anything about.

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Funny, I heard the Park restaurant and the hall they own are for sale.

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The 2 other restaurants do a great business The Park can't compete. The city stood behind him when the first Developer wanted those buildings gone . The city wound up getting surd over it.

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And, to be honest, I'm not sure that it's the parking situation that keeps The Park restaurant from succeeding.

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