Rob Credi doesn’t really want to be that guy. You know, the relentlessly squeaky wheel who continuously complains about issues, in this case issues he believes have been created by city officials.
After sending emails to management and City Council previously during the Harvester Avenue road construction project, Credi tried again recently with another issue related to parking.
“My problem isn’t that we don’t have a lot of parking on Harvester, I know we don’t have a lot of parking,” he said Monday night. “It’s that they gave us more parking and then took it away.”
Only one councilman replied to Credi’s latest email, and suggested that he attend a council meeting.
On Monday evening, Credi addressed all city leaders explaining his and other business owners’ plight.
After more than two months of trying to operate a business while beholden to construction crews, torn up pavement and road closures that happened without any forewarning, Credi thought he saw a reprieve. After finally getting a new smooth road, he also noticed that the no parking signs had been taken down on the east side of Harvester Avenue, providing more parking spots for customers.
“I thought it was a nice little consolation prize,” he said during the conference session at City Hall. “The issue at hand is that we’re back to no parking. It’s the inconsistency of what’s being afforded my customers. Two times in the past three months the damage has already been done. My ask is what can we do to implement a structure beforehand so we can prepare for it and our customers can prepare for it?”
Credi, owner of The Pub Coffee Hub, sought answers when portions of Harvester were closed off to traffic, and his primary complaint was that he and other Harvester Center merchants weren’t informed of what was going to happen ahead of time so they could make alternative options to still serve their customers.
Now, with having extra parking and then seeing that yanked away, he again is frustrated that no one communicated it before putting no parking signs back up.
Not only does having two-sided parking serve customers better, but it helps to slow down traffic, he said.
Having owned a business in downtown Batavia, Credi compared his experience: there were no communication issues when in the heart of the city versus on the southeast side, he said.
He went to the police station to talk about the issue and was referred to City Council. Council President Eugene Jankowski on Monday pointed him back to the police.
"I think we need to refer you back to the police chief. Maybe we can revisit that," Jankowski said.
Credi is to meet with Chief Shawn Heubusch, who said he needed to look into the road width and local law for allowing parking on both sides of a city street.
City Code lists all city roadways and their parking limitations if any. Harvester is cited as having “no parking from the west curb line of Harvester Avenue to a point 100 feet westerly therefrom,” and on the “east curb line to a point 50 feet easterly therefrom.”
For what it’s worth, there’s also a line about no parking allowed 25 feet east and west of both driveways in front of Carrols (from the 70s) restaurant, so it may warrant some updating.
Councilman John Canale, who owns a drum studio at Harvester Center, said he had concerns as well.
“I have experienced all the turmoil there, and one and a half weeks ago, before the no parking signs, it really opened things up, and doubled parking,” Canale said. “And then all of a sudden, the signs went back up. I would like to visit the idea of allowing parking on that side.
“I plead with you to do whatever you can to open up parking,” he said.
Councilman Bob Bialkowski, who had suggested that Credi attend the meeting, agreed. Batavia strays from many other small cities that don’t have locally owned businesses, he said, and it's important to preserve any locally owned small businesses that exist.
“I just think it’s vital that we do whatever we can,” he said.
Credi feels that he was heard and supported about the parking situation.
“I am now waiting on hearing back from the police chief for more detail on why things happened the way they did, ideally with some clarity on why it was open to parking for six weeks and then removed without notice,” he said. “Additionally, getting a definitive answer on enforcing the parking laws on our side of the street would be great.
“I do feel like my main point of improving communication between the city and business owners in the future before a major disruption occurs — for example, roadwork and the parking situation — was kind of pushed aside by council president Jankowski with no real answer as to what can be done to improve it,” Credi said.
File Photo of Rob Credi, owner of The Pub Coffee Hub on Harvester Avenue, Batavia, by Howard Owens.
