What single thing would change attitudes most about downtown shopping?This question was posed to a local business owner near Market Street. His response was, "remove the on-street parking meters!" It was said with emphasis. He has been in business in Kittanning for nearly 20 years. He said that it has and is the single most discussed issue. It is a persistent issue and always comes up. He said that one reason given to him for not taking the meters out is that the business owners would all fill up the parking places if they would be free and then the customers would have no places to park. The response is, if they are going to park there, it does not matter if the meters are there or not. If they will cut their own business throat by preventing customers from parking conveniently, they are at fault. Consider, even at strip and mini-malls, business owners require their employees to park out allowing customers the store front convenience. Why would it be different in the city. Another curious point is that now the city has increased the fines, he has seen a pattern of more deviousness in people to escape both the paying of the meters and also the avoidance of being ticketed. It is his observation that the meters receive less money now than before. He thinks that it should be assumed that a more prosperous business community in Kittanning proper would enhance and promote prosperous employment and a better tax base. When asked about the difficulty in starting and operating a business in Kittanning, he said that he believes that it is about as favorable as anyplace could be. For the most part the government is not intrusive. The climate is good. Once you get customers, they are loyal. There is consistency in the customer base if you can get them there in the first place. This is the advantage of a smaller community, especially this one.
|