Burgers, Bagels and Parking

So, since the city council voted to adopt the local  .75% meals tax, we've seen two new restaurants preparing to open and now the highly awesome creation of Haleybraham's, the combination of Haley's and Abraham's at the Route 1 site of the former.

How can this be?

The tax was supposed to decimate the local restaurant scene. Diners would flock to Amesbury, Salisbury and Newbury to satisfy their culinary cravings. Yet, Newburyport thrives.

In my opinion, doom-and-gloom projections always diminish the value of an argument. I understand and respect those who are simply against any and all taxes. They'd prefer to see cuts on the expense side and I get it. I sometimes think those people see opportunities for savings that don't actually exist, but their preferences are valid.

I'd say the same goes for parking. A paid parking plan will not deter people from coming downtown. Visitors to every place worth visiting are accustomed to paying for parking. People who hold up shopping malls and other small towns as examples of free parking only prove my point. Visitors to Newburyport aren't going to choose a shopping mall over Newburyport because of the parking. They're two entirely different experiences.  It's a day at Fenway versus a night at the movies.

Yet, that is the canard tossed our way. What's really at play is this. First, people just don't want to pay to park. I get it. I prefer free parking myself, but as I've said in the past, paid parking simply makes sense for a local economy driven largely by tourists (as does the meals tax, btw.)

Which takes me to the second point - our's is a local economy driven by tourism. Many in this town don't want to accept this. Instead, they complain about the tourists, see them as nuisances, and wish them to go away. That's all fairly benign behavior, although I'm not sure why people work so hard to make themselves unhappy.

But, in my opinion, that philosophy goes too far when it stands in the way of sound economic policy, and that is precisely what paid parking is.

This Haley's-Abraham's experiment will prove the point. The Route 1 site will have free parking, but I doubt the lines will get any shorter on Liberty Street.