Belmont BID looks to buy Arthur Ave. parking lot from NYC
SUGARY DRINKS
CONTRIBUTE TO
INCREASING RATES
OF HEART DISEASE
AND TYPE 2 DIABETES
IN CHILDREN, TEENS
AND ADULTS.
Restaurants can help
reverse this trend by
making healthy drinks
like milk and water the
default drink option on
children’s menus.
#servekidsbetternyc
97% of kids’ restaurant meals are unhealthy.
With families eating out more often, it’s time
for restaurants to serve kids better.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 6 ANUARY 11-17, 2019 BTR
Frank Franz (l) in the Arthur Avenue Retail Market.
Schneps Community News Group/ Alex Mitchell
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BY ALEX MITCHELL
It’s no shock that parking
in and around Arthur Avenue
can be diffi cult to come by.
To address this issue, the
Belmont Business Improvement
District has launched an
ambitious plan that will have
shoppers thinking more about
where they’re buying their
tasty Italian delicacies or dining
at one of the many popular
restaurants, than their parking
meter expiring.
The BID has embarked on
a plan to purchase the city
owned, municipal parking lot
between Arthur Avenue and
Hoffman Street, and in the
process expanding the number
of cars it can accommodate.
In December, the BID began
collecting petition signatures
from distressed drivers
in search of parking. Since
the start of the campaign on
Christmas Eve, the BID has
already amassed 1,000 signatures.
Currently, the three-hour
parking limit lot offers 47
spaces. However, Belmont BID
treasurer Frank Franz believes
the lot is capable of holding
a lot more cars than that -
perhaps up tripling its current
capacity.
“What the BID would do is
install lift decks that would expand
the lot’s capacity, and do
away with a three hour parking
limit,” Franz said, noting
that each spot turns over 16
times a day on average.
“One spot (in that lot) results
in about a $1,000 spent
by the end of the day. The only
factor that limits (our) businesses
is limited parking,” the
treasurer added.
Naturally, adding more
spaces to the lot would be an
ideal way to boost business,
since the bulk of Arthur Avenue’s
customers come by car,
according to Franz.
Not to mention the needs
of the hundreds of people that
work in and around Arthur
Avenue as well.
“Much of our business
comes from the suburbs like
Westchester and Long Island.
People come from hours away
and they’re certainly not taking
public transit,” he said,
adding that the area isn’t convenient
to public transportation.
As it is, the Belmont BID
maintains the city’s lot in a
variety of ways to ease parking
woes: it places a security
guard in the lot to address
safety, assigns a worker to
keep the lot clean and adds
traffi c directors to help coordinate
entries and exits during
the busy periods.
Since the meter fares are
the only revenue the city collects
from the comparatively
small lot, Franz said that it’s
“not the city’s biggest moneymaker.”
Parking in the lot became
more burdensome when
Mayor de Blasio unveiled his
CarShare program that reserved
four spaces for car
sharers.
Community Board 6 district
manager John Sanchez
took issue with the mayor’s
plan, complaining that the
board was not informed when
the CarShare program was
initiated. The car-sharing
program is also costing the
borough’s Little Italy a minimum
of $4,000 a day in potential
sales, according to BID estimates.
Next to the NYPD, the BID
interacts with the NYC Department
of Transportation
more than any other government
agency, mainly handling
issues with parking, Franz
says.
As more drivers add their
names to the petition, the BID
plans to meet with DOT and
the mayor’s offi ce to essentially
start negotiating a purchase
price.
“There’s no doubt we could
utilize the lot better,” Franz
said.
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