New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Downtown New Bedford is one of the most beautiful downtown business districts you’ll ever visit. Belgium Setts (more commonly known as cobblestones), amazing architecture, a historic park, museums, amazing restaurants, tons of annual events, and some of the hardest working business owners in America. Downtown has a lot going for it, but there are some major barriers for many businesses to thrive.
The turnover downtown is high. Who remembers Ginger Grille, 767 Exchange, Braza, Pizan’s Pizza, Celtic Coffee or The Candleworks Restaurant? All closed or sold with many having very recent ribbon cutting ceremonies. Who remembers some of the older businesses like Krickets, Slices, Burke’s Militaria or a host of other businesses that have disappeared from downtown and their empty storefront sit decaying?
Most recently, Laney Baby was sold and many mergers have occurred like Artworks and the New Bedford Art Musem, or the Ocean Explorium working to merge with the Zoo. While some business closings may be due to incompetence or poor planning, there are several factors that make it difficult to thrive or even survive in downtown New Bedford.
1. Reduced Parking
Downtown New Bedford has two parking garages and lots of street parking, but much of the more convenient parking has disappeared. The parking lot at Custom House Square was replaced by an urban park. Whether you think the park is a good or bad thing is irrelevant. The point is approximately 60+ convenient parking spots disappeared in the heart of the city. Additionally, 16 parking spots were removed and replaced with Belgium Setts and a wider sidewalk, a killer for places like Pier 37, Slainte Irish Pub and other businesses near lower Union Street.
While there are two large parking garages, they are not convenient or the safest places to park at night. Once the attendees go home the garages are rarely monitored. Break ins and vandalism are not uncommon and the garages become shelters for some of the homeless in the area.
YOU HAVE POINTED OUT MANY REASONS WHY I DO NOT SHOP OR DO DOWNTOWN BUSINESS. EVEN EVENTS HELD I TEND TO AVOID DUE TO THE PEOPLE HANGING AROUND MOSTLY @CITY HALL BANK OF AMERICA AREA DRUNK HIGH OR USING VULGARITIES. MY CHILDREN DO NOT NEED TO SEE OR HEAR THAT WHILE IM PAYING TO PARK OR TO ATEND SOME THING EDUCATIONAL OR FUN .I USED TO ENJOY DOWNTOWN AND WOULD SPEND MONEY AND TIME THERE SO UNTIL THIS CITY GETS IT TOGETHER ILL CONTINUE GO ELSEWHERE..
I reflect the above sentiments. And unfortunately there’s not only a pan-handling issue in downtown but it’s also the amount of sketchy people that just hang out. It’s really not that inviting. I’ll be sitting at Green Bean with my wife and all we see are just strange people slowly stumbling down the street. And the meter thing just needs to stop. I really didn’t know that they made over $1 mil!!! All from the cars downtown!? That’s crazy!! It’s sad to see good restaurants/business have to close their doors due to circumstances that relatively could be changed. Hopefully with the South Coast Rail things might change, but on the other hand it could invite more trouble than good. So who knows.
All of those reasons are valid. I’m adding “poor signage & too many 1-way streets” to the list of complaints.
Things have come a long way downtown and will continue to make progress. I do not know where you are from but compared to Boston,Providence or Newport, the downtown is like a good dream. I have never had a problem parking, never been ripped off and if you can not pay 50 cents for 2 hours on a parking meter you do not know how lucky we are to have this amazing treasure of culture and great enterainment. Have you ever paid a cover charge to hear a band ? Oh yea Pearly Baker has a 2 dollar cover charge and that is in the far North End.
Put a fork in it!! Fighting a losing battle with junkies and illeagals.
We have a gallery and 90% of the people the visit are homeless, drug or alcohol addicted and ex-cons. Dangerous. We keep weapons available for protection. Just got my license to carry and will stay armed when I am there esp. at night.
Be safe.
OK –
Let’s go Downtown ….. but first let’s make sure we have enough quarters for the meter …… if all city employees worked as hard as the parking meter enforcement squad the city would need 30 % fewer employees.
We need to be extra careful on Purchase St near No Problemo and avoid the cadre of the omni present skateboarders who rule the pavement at that corner — one bump into our car & guess who would be determined to be at fault ?
Let’s see — its a Friday night and all the on street parking spaces near the remaining open businesses may be taken –
well we can always park at the Custom House lot — on second thought it’s now ‘ urinal park ‘ that can only be used 5 moths a year —
Well we can always look for a parking space further away ….. just have to make sure all valuables are in the trunk …….. well surely the area is well monitored by police patrols …..
By the way, what ever happened to the police who actually walked around the downtown area ????
Guess we will have to walk a little further to get to the Urban Grille – oh, thats right — it closed after 14 months of operation due to tight regulations regarding liquor licenses . Seems to me the Mayor proposed 25 new licenses for the City 2 months AFTER Urban Grill closed — well better late than never.
On second thought ……. why don’t we just go over to Route 6 ……
Last time we went there to eat got a ticket after 6:00 it should be free then
We felt that the potential for sucess in downtown was tremendous enough
that we opened three times in three locations there. Parking issues, real and perceived crime kept customers away. Most people downtown work or go to school there, the remainder live nearby, Visit on Saturday or Sunday to get the full impact of a ghost town.
Hmmmm….usually I’m pretty polarized when I read these articles, and tend to agree with the author, but I think there are some other factors here at stake.
Regarding the parking situation, this is somewhat of a double edged sword. The initial strategy was to charge for parking to disenfranchise long term use, which in turn would favor those that used it infrequently for shopping in the area. This has somehow become a realized revenue stream for the city. I have personally watched tickets being issued to vehicles that still had time remaining on the meter (over 10 minutes), with no chalk on the tire (signifying greater than 2 hour parking). A complaint on behalf of someone else for this type of abuse amounts in nothing more than the ticket being refunded (I was not the reciever of the ticket, but I did accompany the one who did to the ticket office). This kind of aggressive ramp up in revenue year to year can only be accompanied by strategic initiatives and high goal setting. In laymans terms, there are most likely “unofficial quotas” with systems set up to ensure you recieve a ticket on as many visits to downtown as possible. The removal of the parking lot right smack dab in the center to create a park? That was nothing more than a small part in a much larger initiative to increase revenue. (Mike, graph revenue vs. available spots to park year over year…gauranteed there is a inverse relationship). If the city REALLY cared about business’ downtown, it would follow it’s original mantra of what meters are for, disenfranchising common parkers who would otherwise not spend money downtown. This is very easy to do…
A.) Give business owners and their employees free vouchers to use city garages. Having to pay for parking should not be a hidden cost of doing business downtown.
B.) Refresh your meters with newer tech. I know there was a recent upgrade to get cards, but even this tech is seriously outdated. Meter automation can remove the meter maid out of the equation completely, and once you factor in the labor reduction, the ROI can be realized in a much shorter timespan. Plus, you will probably bring a few higher paying tech jobs to the city.
C.) Now that you have removed the owners and employees cars, and removed all the aggressive meter maids with automation, give FREE parking. Yes, that is right. Give 2 hour free parking at any spot, and have the meter tag the plate so that it is an aggregate 2 hour period within an 8 hour window at any spot downtown. If they violate that window, really whack them with a hefty fine ($75-$100).
Once you factor in cost reduction due to a smaller labor force and a minor reduction in bottom line revenue due to reduced fees, I’m sure it will even out. You can add hours now to the parking crunch to include nights and weekends now that the feeing is automated, if you find that revenue is not up to snuff. Overall, what you get is a business populace that is satisfied because the parking situation has been relieved, and a revenue stream that has seen a minor impact.
Regarding crime….I have worked and lived in the downtown area for the better part of 8 years. Common sense really does come into play here. Don’t put a smart phone/camera/purse hanging in your front seat, period. I wouldn’t do that in Lakeville, nevermind New Bedford. Keep your car clean, and leave nothing hanging around. As far as the pan handling (why don’t we just call it begging?), I have developed a fool proof way to avoid it. When approached, I respond with “No”. It does work, 100% of the time. No issues. In order to remove this “blight”, you would have to remove the elements that allow it to exist, which would be to….
A.) Close the shelter
B.) Close the soup kitchen
C.) Restrict sales of alcohol to those considered vagrants
D.) Relocate High Point
E.) Redefine “Public Use” in areas such as the bus station and library
F.) Step up vagrancy enforcement
G.) Open a psychiatric ward on St. Lukes with long term care and out patient monitoring
I’m pretty sure a number of these would either incur huge costs, possibly make the situation worse, and/or have the ACLU here in a flash. Unfortunately we cannot have the same policy for the area that we have when we have high profile visitors downtown. For those in the know, you know what I mean.
As far as the liquor licenses go, I don’t think that has as much to play with the success or failure of a business downtown as the article would lead you to believe. Some of these businesses failed due to administrative reasons, others because they failed to profile the area prior to opening. By rule of thumb, restaurants have high turnover due to the fact they are a restaurant, regardless of area. Some are smarter than others, take Catwalk’s rebranding, for instance….good move. know your customer, deliver a product, provide consistency, streamline your marketing and other channels….some just don’t have it in them. I’ve seen failing businesses change hands to become successful. It really is based individually.
Absenteeism…..couldn’t agree with you more.
Litter…businesses need to be good stewards of the areas AROUND them as well. I recently walked in front of Rose Alley to get to Cork, and there must have been 1000 cigarette butts in front of the place. It was pretty gross. This was at 5 PM. There really is no excuse for that, period, and I would never tolerate it if I was the owner. Not singling anyone out, it just comes to mind. Involve the area owners to clean it up. Unfortunately, you cannot depend on the populace to do it, but if you are looking for some ownership, I’d probably start there.
Politics….no opinion on this one. I’m assuming that the city is fair enough to let business licenses through where neccessary and requested. Maybe I’ll open something up and see. 😉
What a shame. Downtown New Bedford is actually quite beautiful. It’s got history. It’s near the water. It has kept connections to its past in the architecture and cobblestone streets. Seaman’s Bethel. The Whaling Museum. The Visitor’s Center. By all accounts, it should be thriving. It’s so sad.
I’ve been employed downtown for 16 years. There has been many improvements over the years but they seem to overlook the fact that while there are many things to do and see the parking situation has been swept under the rug and forgotten. You can’t have a successful business if patrons can’t park or have to hassle w/ the meter attendants. Where I’m employed they purposely prey on us.
There should be police officers walking the downtown beat. That’s what the norm was years ago and it proved to be effective. Shoppers had a greater sense of security. You have a satellite police station downtown but there really isn’t a police presence. Why should anyone have to tolerate walking a gauntlet to get into city hall or the Bank Of America? The parking meter attendants are absolutely killing businesses. The city may be making significant revenue from the meters but it is at the cost having the downtown area full of buildings with plywood covered windows. The downtown area may never be what it was during the sixties. We shouldn’t, however, make it even more difficult for businesses to survive. They have to fight a negative perception, parking problems, litter and panhandlers. It would appear the city fathers have given up on having a viable downtown environment.