Ann Arbor DDA director responds to construction concerns from downtown restaurants
Susan Pollay, director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, responded today to criticisms that the DDA hasn't done enough to help restaurants that are struggling to get by as a $50 million underground parking deck takes shape on Fifth Avenue.
Here's Pollay's written response to the concerns aired by the owners of Jerusalem Garden and Earthen Jar at Monday night's Ann Arbor City Council meeting:
I very much appreciate the concerns being raised by the owners of Jerusalem Garden and Earthen Jar, and continue to want to do everything we can to assist. Personally I’ve been meeting with them throughout the project on a regular basis, and I know that Christman’s project superintendent has met with them recurrently, as have the DDA’s project managers.To my knowledge, the city has no mechanisms for providing tax abatements related to construction projects, so I don’t have an answer when this has been requested. What the DDA has been able to do, we’ve been doing. For instance, the restaurants have been regularly requesting free parking validation stickers to give to their customers. Since the project began, we have provided more than $2,000+ of free parking stickers for their customers.Susan Pollay
We have provided free meter bags through the project for Jerusalem Garden’s delivery truck, as well as free off-street parking, and even paid for a couple of his parking tickets when he didn’t park according to posted rules. The DDA paid to have a private dumpster for Jerusalem Garden for several weeks (and paid to have it emptied), and our project managers spent many hours helping Earthen Jar with a city water issue, although the issue had nothing to do with construction activities.
At the request of the restaurants, the DDA added additional lighting on S. Fifth in front of their businesses, as well as twinkly holiday lights, to make the area more inviting. Signage was placed on Liberty Street letting people know that the businesses were open, and at no time has the DDA or Christman blocked customer access on the sidewalks leading to the restaurants.
Christman paid to plow the road in front of JG and EJ all winter, and Christman has also purchased catering from both restaurants for meetings, including a large recent order in June for a safety meeting they held with all the workers on the site. I read today’s story and note that these efforts are not being mentioned, but again, everything that we can think of to do to help we are doing to minimize impacts on these businesses.
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's e-mail newsletters.
Comments
a2susan
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 4:18 p.m.
I'm still trying to figure out how this whole underground garage idea got started and why it is needed. I stopped going downtown once construction started on it. It's true there are a few other surface lots, but it's hard to find spaces in them and they are farther away from the library and Seva, where I like to go. As a woman, I will never park in a garage, I simply do not feel safe in them. So I will not park in this underground garage either. I've lived here for 20 years, and I'm only one person, but downtown Ann Arbor has lost my business. It's simply not pleasant to go there anymore.
akronymn
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 2:28 p.m.
The DDA has no real interest in supporting these businesses. They want chains and box stores and expensive boutiques to take over downtown. The efforts described in this statement are a joke and don't even scratch the surface of the problem. Paying to plow in front of the shops during the winter? Are you serious Pallay? That's the city's job anyway!
Forever27
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 1:55 p.m.
the DDA is such a waste. They do nothing that the Chamber of Commerce couldn't do in conjunction with the city council. Tell me again why we have a tax-funded DDA that we don't elect? The DDA needs to be disbanded, it's become too invested in its own existence to actually serve the community as intended.
Ed Kimball
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 1:46 p.m.
Interesting. After reading all the comments, I have yet to see a specific, constructive suggestion as to what the DDA should have done differently. It's easy to say they did the wrong thing or they didn't do enough, but it's much harder to suggest concrete activities. One writer said "maybe we need better thinkers". I agree -- not just at the DDA but in these comments as well!!!
JAM2
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 3:23 p.m.
I'm fairly certain it's not our responsibility to provide Susan Pollay with details on how to do her job properly. The point is that although she thinks she's done everything she can, her measures have proven ineffective. Therefore, she failed to do her job in this particular circumstance. If Susan needs help maintaining her responsibilities, perhaphs she should solicit public comment/input - I'd be more than happy to sit down with her to discuss. I think most of the community agrees, per these comments, that she has failed in achieving even the slightest bit of goodwill with two businesses that are particularly representative of our fair town.
akronymn
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 2:46 p.m.
This whole conversation began on the point that the city is doing nothing to provide tax abatements to these businesses. The point isn't that there's not good ideas out there already, the point is that the DDA is responding to a serious situation with a half-hearted, nearly useless response.
Forever27
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 2:15 p.m.
here's a suggestion. the DDA could work with a bank to provide zero-interest loans to these businesses to help float them through this. If they do nothing, the lawsuit will be back on the table and they'll be forced to defend themselves, and Christman Construction (as they are currently the owners of the structure) in court. It's not even that the DDA has been completely absent throughout this, it's that they've done the least, and i mean very least, they could do throughout. This statement is yet another example of the contempt the DDA has for the local business owners as well as the people of the city.
JAM2
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 1:10 p.m.
Unimaginative does not even begin to describe this pathetic and, frankly, shameful response. Ms. Pollay has played her hand...poorly. I walked through these points last night with Ali Ramwali and he easily dissected each to its sad, underwhelming truth. For example, the large meeting she refers to was something like 5 trays of baklava on which JG made about $50. Hyperbole is a common tactic of distraction and distraction is necessary when a guilty conscience can no longer convince one that they are acting with dignity. Ms. Pollay has proven herself a poor admnistrator. People in positions of far greater responsibility have lost their jobs over far less impactful things. She needs to either step down or be replaced.
Sparky79
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 12:07 p.m.
"Twinkly holiday lights"? Did she really write that like I'm suppose to be impressed? Wow, lol.
sh1
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 11:35 a.m.
I'm curious how one would go about attaining a "free parking" sticker. This is the first I've heard of them. Wouldn't you have to park your car before entering the restaurant?
Forever27
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 1:57 p.m.
not to mention the fact the $2000 over a whole year is a drop in the bucket. She throws that figure out there like it's supposed to be impressive.
Ed Kimball
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 1:47 p.m.
These "stickers" apply to the spitter tickets at the downtown parking structures, where you pay as you leave. Several downtown establishments provide these. They don't, however, apply to on-street metered parking.
Chip Reed
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 11:05 a.m.
"everything that we can think of to do to help". Perhaps we need better thinkers. I used to work next door to these wonderful businesses and it certainly seems as though the DDA would rather that these properties would be redeveloped (highest, best use, etc.). Development is their middle name, after all. So it's really a conflict between old and funky Ann Arbor and our eagerly awaited shiny new conference center, or whatever. I was at WCC yesterday, where the Ironworkers where having a big get-together. Who needs all this stuff?
Somewhat Concerned
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 1:40 a.m.
Downtown "Development" Authority should be renamed something more accurate - perhaps Downtown Destruction Authority. Here we have a couple of small, local, quirky businesses that prior to the DDA parking project were holding their own and helping make Ann Arbor a little different than every town in Indiana and Tennessee. When the DDA is through with their pet project - a parking lot - these cool little businesses probably will be gone or crippled. DDA has some sense of humor: "we gave them parking stickers and bags to put over parking meters when they make deliveries." Of course DDA will have the last laugh if the restaurants close and get replaced by another shiny Subway or Jimmy Johns. DDA will herald their opening and want credit for more development in downtown. Or is it more destruction. At least DDA will get its giant parking garage, and if they pound long and hard enough, a 10-story hotel convention center that we will have to bail out in five years.
st.julian
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 1:25 a.m.
The DDA is not interested in the small business. It is interested in the revenues from the garage. They're operaitng assumption is that those small business properties wil be sold to developers within the next 5 to 10 years. the current business will only have a marginal impact on DDA revenues. the DDA will receve more revenues if those porperties are redeveloped
Forever27
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 2:19 p.m.
This is exactly why they should be disbanded. The DDA is an organization that answers to nobody, and is only interested in making more profit for themselves, not developing the downtown area in-line with the desires of the residents.
the major
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 12:32 a.m.
What a terrible shameful response. Better to say nothing than to pat yourself on the back for parking bags, 2 tickets paid, and a street light. Get out here clowns!!!
Dutchy734
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 8:09 p.m.
No, not just street lights but "as well as twinkly holiday lights, to make the area more inviting"...they are twinkly...awesome...
PersonX
Tue, Jul 19, 2011 : 10:34 p.m.
This is a pathetic statement that is characteristic of the unimaginative, small minded thinking that is characteristic of the DDA. An organization that is supposed to be dedicated to supporting downtown should not be destroying small businesses; it is one thing to obstruct two restaurants for six months or so, but quite another to do it for such a length of time (and let us not forget what this is doing to Afternoon Delight and other nearby establishments). Such petty legalisms do not excuse the DDA from a moral responsibility--use your imagination and think of legal ways to help them. This is what you are paid to do. The whole affair is a disgrace, and this posting just makes it worse.
Think!
Tue, Jul 19, 2011 : 10:16 p.m.
Wow. If these few actions are what Ms. Pollay and the DDA consider being helpful to businesses decimated by DDA projects, no wonder small local businesses are heading away from Ann Arbor. In fact, in Ypsilanti, you are welcomed with free parking.
Cameron
Tue, Jul 19, 2011 : 9:16 p.m.
First I like the DDA and everything they have been trying to do. They have taken on to many things at once and that is detracting form all the good they do. The idea that you can block off a street for over a year and not expect to cripple businesses in that area is ignorant the idea that the little things they have done to help is enough is stupid they have hurt those businesses for years and this responce shows how little they realize that I operate a business 4 blocks from the construction and it is costing me hundreds a week in additional costs. I can not imagine being in the middle of it all. if you want proof they are doing to much just look at the 1/2 finished projects if it was a business not finished with the landscapeing or site cleanup they would be fined daily. I know that they are trying to make things better but i think they need to slow down and finish projects on time from start to finish. Maybe its less projects and more Quality of life for down town.
dconkey
Tue, Jul 19, 2011 : 8:52 p.m.
Seem to me that the DDA has been more than fair with the two businesses in question. Parking should not be an issue as everyone in Ann Arbor rides a bike or takes public transportation.
Dutchy734
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 8:07 p.m.
"Parking should not be an issue as everyone in Ann Arbor rides a bike or takes public transportation." Why then are they building a $50 million underground parking deck?
Forever27
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 2:16 p.m.
contrary to your overgeneralization, not everyone who comes to downtown is from Ann Arbor. Even more, not every Ann Arborite lives within walking distance.
Edward R Murrow's Ghost
Tue, Jul 19, 2011 : 8:37 p.m.
Agree with Gregory Peck . . . er . . . Atticus. Time to disband the unelected and unaccountable DDA. Good Night and Good Luck
kms
Tue, Jul 19, 2011 : 8:17 p.m.
Unfortunately, I haven't been to either Jerusalem Garden or Afternoon Delight since construction began. Without that surface parking lot, which I used almost every time I came downtown, there's really no convenient place to park, especially when you want a quick bite. Due mostly to ease of parking in that Ashley lot, I frequently lunch at Frita's, Grizzly Peak and now the new Mark's Carts.
48104
Wed, Jul 20, 2011 : 1:11 a.m.
The surface lot across the street from the library doesn't suffice?
Atticus F.
Tue, Jul 19, 2011 : 8:03 p.m.
hey hey, ho ho, the DDA has got to go!
julieswhimsies
Tue, Jul 19, 2011 : 7:57 p.m.
Sad to see no lines at Afternoon Delight...one of my favorite spots!
Roadman
Tue, Jul 19, 2011 : 7:47 p.m.
The businesses should reinstate the lawsuit that had been pending in the circuit court which they dismissed in exchange for promises from the city. This is an example of the "little guys" getting kicked around while big developers are wined and dined by the city. Mike Anglin and Steve Kunselman are the only ones making any sense on this issue.