(Atlantic) Brian Ruge, Owner/Manager of Brown’s Shoe Fit, appeared before the Atlantic City Council this (Wednesday) afternoon to discuss issues with parking in the downtown area.
Ruge said despite the fact that strides have been made in the downtown appearance, there are some growing concerns he wanted to address including buildings not being maintained, dangerous intersections, trees overgrowing into buildings, and bricks on the sidewalk lifting and becoming a tripping hazard. He said the biggest issue appears to be parking, specifically on the snow route on Chestnut Street. Ruge said when the City attempts to clear the downtown streets, they are not able to do this successfully, which leaves parking spots uncleared and unusable.
Ruge said the lack of parking means a lack of business, which is a loss of tax dollars spent.
Atlantic City Clerk Barb Barrick explained that when parking passes are issued for downtown tenants they do let those individuals know that those passes are for overnight only, not during the day when businesses are open. She said they also send out a notice to everyone who holds a parking pass about parking on the streets during snow removal operations, but its obviously not working.
City Councilman Gerald Brink…
The City Council agreed to send this concern to the Community Protection Committee.
