After loss of parking had upset merchants on the East Side, city Communications Director Brett Broesder issues this update:
This weekend, Mayor Bill Finch joined U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal and City Councilwoman Lydia Martinez in announcing a new off-street parking lot that will support small businesses after parking spots on the state-owned East Main Street were removed following a road improvement project.
“Local businesses are the backbone of our city,” said Mayor Bill Finch. “After decades of broken promises, Steelpointe Harbor is finally a reality. The largest development project in generations is creating hundreds of jobs and adding millions of dollars to the tax rolls, but these small businesses are our lifeblood.”
A critical piece of the progress at Steelpointe Harbor is road improvements and street expansion projects, which serve as smart investments in the future. An unintended consequence of the East Main Street improvement project is a loss of parking spots in front of businesses on the state-owned street.
“We cannot stand for that and need to find a solution that works for these job creators and thriving businesses. That’s exactly what we’re doing by creating an off-street parking lot in the area that will be available for employees and customers very soon.”
Ø Click here to see video or workers preparing the lot: bit.ly/1MqT0mT.
Ø Click here for photos of work: bit.ly/1BMRRjf.
“East Main Street has been–and will continue to be–one of Bridgeport’s major commercial corridors. We remain committed to the small business owners who are such a valuable asset to our East Side neighborhood,” Mayor Finch added.
The new parking is located at the corner of East Main and Nichols streets. Jorge Garcia, the city’s director of Public Facilities, said he expects work to be completed and parking lines painted as soon as Friday. The goal is to offset the on-street parking loss between Nichols and Cedar streets.
The parking spots on East Main Street, a state-owned road, were eliminated when a turning lane was added for the Interstate 95 on-ramp as part the Steelpointe development.
The turning lanes on East Main, as well as on Stratford Avenue, were requirements during a lengthy state permitting process, which occurred a number of years ago after public hearings, for the Steelpointe, which is underway on the other side of I-95.
Once complete, Steelpointe Harbor will serve as a 2-million-square foot super regional waterfront project located adjacent to I-95 in Bridgeport Connecticut. Spanning 82 acres, the project will feature more than 750,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and entertainment, a 12-screen premium theater, two hotels, 1,100 mid-and-high rise residential units, 30,000 square feet of office and a 200-slip full service deep water marina.
“The construction and all the jobs at Steelpointe are all great news, but it only works when our mom-and-pop stores thrive too. They are the lifeblood of our city, the shops that serve us lunch every day, have socks for our kids and flowers for my wife.”
Mayor Finch thanked Councilwoman Lydia Martinez, who brought business owners’ concerns to him last week.
“As soon as she brought it to my attention, I instructed my staff to find a solution. We worked together and I am grateful. We’re committed to helping these businesses in any way we can,” said Mayor Finch.
What a joke, there were never any plans for providing parking for these businesses, that goes to show the lack of respect Mayor Finch has for these hard-working businesses in the Hispanic district. This was a last-minute decision.
What a lot of cities do when there are parking problems is they get parking meters. The way this works is people insert money to park for a certain amount of time. This keeps people from parking their cars all day in a business area. It would also help East Main traffic. Finch should Google it, it works in a lot of places. But instead they build a parking lot that takes away vacant land and costs taxpayers their overtaxed money.
BptPorter,
Good call as it would bring in revenue the City needs. And it would be well to point out metered or get a ticket from machine and put it on your dashboard forms of revenue for parking are used in many places. Does he care? About revenues? Maybe there should be abatements for parking cars in certain places like the cars parked all day around Police HQ for years? Time will tell.
Thanks, Ron. I looked back at the Mayor’s State of the City comments and could not find any discussion either.
By the way, I am beginning to be concerned about Senator Blumenthal. Are things so zipped up in the many subjects our senior legislators are dealing with that he can be present at the drop of a hat (or the ‘opening’ of an envelope) in Bridgeport? What value did he bring to this activity? And if none, why is he in the picture? A local last-minute project? Taking long-time parking from long-suffering businesses on a State road with the Mayor’s office out of touch on the subject? And a US Senator stands for the photo op with nothing to say? Is this reducing the effect of photo ops by politicians (except for Lydia)? Time will tell.
John Marshall Lee, let there be a camera or the media around and there is Senator Richard Blumenthal, he’s a real fake and he must not be reelected.
Agreed.
This is great news. Better a last-minute decision that took a whole week to address than waiting 20 years for a grocery store. This was a smart move and shows the concern and respect for the Hispanic community that the opposition is trying to sell to the community as the anti-Puerto Rican Mayor. I am very pleased as I patronize many of the little restaurants in the area. Great job! Was that Lydia Martinez? I have seen her in many schools reading to the kids. The queen of the absentee ballots … hmmm well I guess I am happy about that!
Finch is doing this to get the Latino vote after he choked the Latino councilman.
Well good thing he didn’t kill him or we would have a convicted felon, a murderer and a debutante running for Mayor. 🙂
And only a “dilettante” supporting the potential murderer and firing blanks most of the time, though absurdities do cause laughter on occasion, though the regular use of smiley faces does not. To each his own, but may anger be managed better? Time will tell.
OK Steve, you finally made me LOL!
What troubles me is they have been talking about this for a number of years and at no time were the business, political and civic leaders of this district consulted and asked for their opinions on what can only negatively affect their businesses. Where else would that happen?
Was this issue on the strategic list of the East End NRZ originally? Or was it added subsequently? They have had representation for some years now. Whether the members of any NRZ group is representative of community stakeholders is another question. As is whether the City really listens to the strategic plans of the NRZ when the big boys get in the back room and decide what is going to happen and when. Time will tell.
I see two positives here:
– The ministry of public enlightenment admitted this was unforeseen and the Finch administration was reacting to an issue.
– The silly ‘Bridgeport getting better …’ campaign slogan was not used.
While critics seek perfection, Mayor Finch makes an executive decision and produces a quick solution to a vexing problem. The endgame is a better East Main Street that aids local businesses. The short game involves more parking places now.
In a related story, Bridgeport’s North End is quiet today. Maybe residents took advantage of the mayor’s offer and took the free water taxi to Pleasure Beach.
An unintended consequence in adding a turning lane and not widening the road is a loss of parking spaces. Duh! Another example of great planning by the city of Bridgeport. And whoever did this traffic study didn’t mention this or no one in the city bothered to read it?
Now if I were on the council I would have asked if this was being done for the benefit of Steal Point why didn’t Steal Point pay for it. And I would have been told because they didn’t have to. Get used to this kids ’cause it is only just beginning.
Guess it is good you are no longer on the council. Bob Walsh, do you spend much time on East Main Street?
Gee. Room for a parking lot on the East Side? Mayor Finch has just worked another miracle!
So Lennie, just out of curiosity, who is the black man in the photo? Just strange all are identified except for this one guy. I want names, damn it! 🙂
Kissing Lydia Martinez’ ass and hoping for a yes vote! When Finch and Hamilton Burger return with the 170 units of housing on the East Side.
Blumie cashes those same checks in Stamford as well as Mayor Finch. The Queen of the ABs will sell her City Council vote for a parking lot, while she taxes the BBOE with overcrowding and undertaxing this city for the next 40 years! Just watch how fast she’ll switch her vote now, folks!
Jim, I sense you are correct.
The East Side businesses are being pushed out! Right in front of their eyes. Good job, Lydia. lol!
The businesses being pushed out? Do you anonymous posters have no shame with ridiculous propaganda?
Sorry Steve, but invisible is right. This parking lot is a sham. People are not going to park there in bad weather or at night.
The thing is: if you own a business and you depend on the city to provide on-street parking for your business, you take your chances. Honestly speaking, on-street parking as a business model is the taxpayer subsidizing your business. It is also a ‘catch as catch can’ business model. There is no proof the cars in those spots do not belong to employees of the business or renters in apartments over the business. If parking is an important aspect of your business, you (as a business owner) need to ensure you have parking. A group of owners could have easily bought an empty lot and made a parking area but hindsight is always 20/20. I guess for all these years the business owners, building landlords and apartment renters opted to do what was cheapest for them.
I am not a big fan of Finch but this seems to be another ‘damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t’ issue. Finch had two choices. Prepare E. Main Street for the soon to be increased traffic or have E. Main Street be a traffic nightmare later on. Either choice would draw criticism from those who choose to criticize.
BOE, perfectly stated!