New London parking policies drive away customers
I own Hot Rod Cafe and I love New London. I had to share this note from a great customer who also loves New London and comes from Groton to patronize downtown businesses. Here is the Facebook message I received.
"An empty parking lot. Your place was closed so went to another establishment for 2.5 hours. Ended up with a $25 fine. This area loses my business Monday through Friday. We were only people down town.”
It's an example how local bureaucrats can actually harm businesses. Overzealous parking ticketing is part of the reason we don't open for lunch during the week. Seriously New London Parking Gods, who are you ticketing for? All it's doing is chasing business away. You’re not doing it for us, it's not like most business owners are complaining that we need more ticketing.
I've come to accept that this isn't a town that really wants to or perhaps doesn't know how to help make downtown more customer and business friendly. That's fine, please just don't hurt us. If downtown gets so crowded with people parking all day that shoppers have nowhere to park, please have at it. But ticketing the only two customers in an empty parking lot is silly.
Roderick Cornish
New London