Board of Aldermen 03-09-2021 Page 30
the barriers out, | don’t even think we get that great of assistance, because we do not have the equipment in-
house within the Board of Public Works, so we have to pay a contractor to do so. That was done last year, it
was done in the installation and removal. And from what | understand from Director Cummings it will be done
as they are installed for this year.
But that does not mean that certain issues that get brought up; historically the facts are one of the gentlemen
that did bring the concerns up, he was allotted a 15 minute parking space. But when his concerns were noted,
there was a pushback to one of the restaurants adjacent to his property and | think two spaces were granted.
So this has been a very fluid type of thing in dealing with this. It comes down to, it basically gets we are going
to have to make a decision on it. It may not be popular with some but is popular with the majority. | think all of
you have heard very positive things about the support, particularly from our dining community, people that
have enjoyed outdoor dining. And | didn’t mention before with the COVID we are coming up to about basically
one year of the restrictions. But let’s look at Main Street. | don’t see plywood shuttering up the windows. What
we have done has worked. | haven’t seen too many restaurants close, so it is good. | think Director Cummings
in his capability of his appointment in his station is quite capable of dealing with the individual people down on
Main Street and tweaking this type of thing. It is something very fluid so | would not be supporting the
amendment as such because | think it is in capable hands with Director Cummings. Thank you.
President Wilshire
Thank you Alderman O’Brien. Alderman Lopez?
Alderman Lopez
Sorry Alderman O’Brien, but | am comfortable supporting the amendment just because | think it has been fluid
and adaptable in the past and so | don’t see any harm in codifying it. | also think it is important to support all
businesses and make sure that they don't feel like they are being subsumed under the more popular or more
visible businesses. So Wingate’s Pharmacy is very important there, a very historic business, they've been
there for years. They have business needs and nobody knows their business needs as well as they do. So |
think we need to support businesses in a way that allows them to come forward with these issues. But | also
think that the Board of Aldermen is a pretty clumsy tool for that, pretty ponderous in terms of how quickly we
can respond to some things. So it makes sense to me the way it was presented that, yes Director Cummings
has the recommendation power but also DPW since they are probably going to be the ones who move it and
they are probably going to be the one who have a whole bunch of construction coming up anyway. So | don’t
see that as particularly harmful. | would like to point out to Alderman Jette that in the previous meeting he was
concerned with the absence of a map and this week he is concerned with the presence of amap. But thank
you for being diligent.
Alderman Klee
Thank you Madam President. And | hate to disappoint you, Alderman Lopez, but while | do agree with what
you said, that was not going to be my comment. My comment actually is for Alderman Jette, | think |
understand what you are saying but could you specifically state again the paragraph and what the word
changes are going to be, rather than just saying “what Attorney Bolton said”, just so that we have it for both the
audience as well as the members who are voting that we know exactly what it is we are voting for seeing as we
don’t have it in front of us.
Alderman Jette
Madam President?
President Wilshire
Alderman Jette.
