Columnists
Dilemma
On the horns of a dilemma, I am. I want to say something about the private patio on public property. I have, however, worked for a County municipal department and the pressure to make a profit was very real. It was a very real pressure, every day, of the very short season for our museums. My stand on museums, public parks, community centres and libraries, regarding profit-making, hasn’t changed. The profit made by public services isn’t in the dollar return on investment, it is in the “service to the public”. You can’t really put a dollar sign on the culture, the education, the assistance, the heritage, the history and the resources gained and shared by public institutions. But that being said, sometimes encouraging people to use public services looks a lot like selling out to make a profit. It’s just so complicated. In my travels, I have noticed a great number churches, libraries and museums have branded cafés on their premises. Additionally, spaces are rented for private functions and very nearly all public spaces have have gift shops and charge a fee for educational tours. Like I said, on the horns of a dilemma.
And now, if private spaces in public places isn’t enough of a quandary, you and I may have noticed another type of private space in public places. What? You didn’t. Let’s close our eyes and think about sidewalk cafés. I whinged about the ones in Picton, last year. A whole lot of people weren’t very happy with me. Apparently, I didn’t get it. Obviously, I still don’t get it. In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve got a few sidewalk cafes in the County. No doubt about it, patios are great for the food service businesses. And the food service industry is one of the economic pillars of this community. Heck, we’ve even got bylaws in place to support alternatives use of sidewalks. And how great is a sidewalk seating arrangement if you’re a sidewalk-sitting- on-the-patio person. I have to admit, I’ve enjoyed a drink or two, on a sidewalk here and there. I’ll bet we’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t spent an enjoyable moment on a patio. The problem of navigating around a sidewalk patio, in the County, has been circumnavigated (seriously, I never thought I’d get to use that word in a sentence) with a little deck-type bypass that extends into the roadway. Now, if that’s not ingenious I don’t know what is. Of course the problem is the sidewalk/deck extensions take up precious parking spaces. Just one or two spaces, here and there. Not a big problem, right? Not so fast.
So, I’m a senior citizen and Prince Edward County is senior-citizen-dominant. I could be wrong about that, but I don’t think I am. I think we actually brag about it. For some of us old farts, mobility is an issue. We rely on being able to find a parking spot close to the service we need, or retailer we want to visit, on our main streets. We don’t want to hear about free parking in the King Street parking lot or the Mary Street lot, both of which are difficult to navigate. Why bother having any kind of parking space on Main Street—close to the Post Office, Service Canada, a drug store, a legal office or the place we buy our doodads and trinkets—if we’re giving them up to private businesses for seasonal gains. I’m not a fuddy-duddy who doesn’t get it. I do. I understand how important it is to lure the dollars into the downtown areas. I don’t have mobility problems at the moment. I can easily walk from my place to retailers and services in Picton. Others aren’t as fortunate. “It’s only a couple of spaces,” you say. And that’s the truth. But it’s not about how many spaces being taken out of commission, it’s about how often those spaces are used during the course of a business day.
The H E double horns of a dilemma.
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