Samantha Jarvis, Frederick, MD. Please vote to keep outdoor dining. It's been one of the positive changes to come from the pandemic.

I reside and own a small business in Downtown Frederick. My husband and I love all things Downtown - the main thing being the walkability to the shops, variety of restaurants, art galleries, parks, entertainment (comedy, theater), festivals, etc.! We love the sense of community that exists here and the overall vibrancy of downtown. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we ate out almost daily! I frequented many of the restaurants downtown for morning coffee meetings, happy hours, and both casual and fine dining. When the pandemic first hit, we ordered takeout a few times per week and purchased gift cards from a few of our favorite restaurants to help support them. Once many of the restaurants began offering outdoor dining options, we increased our eating out significantly! As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were not comfortable dining indoors until recently, so outdoor seating was the only option in our minds. The parklets, "in the streets dining," and portable heaters during the winter months allowed us to safely dine out AND support our favorite restaurants in a way that made us feel comfortable. In fact, as we were only dining at restaurants that offered outdoor options, this led us to rediscover restaurants to which we hadn't been in quite awhile. We are more likely to dine at a restaurant if they have outdoor dining options available. Outdoor dining just seems to fit with the vibe of Downtown Frederick. I'd prefer to dine outside, especially when Market St. is closed to vehicles as this allows for a more enjoyable outdoor dining experience that replaces traffic noise with the music of eclectic street performers. I would like to see outdoor dining expanded (i.e. larger sidewalk cafes and nicer parklet dining) and made more permanent. I believe that expanded and permanent outdoor dining can only enhance what our hip and historic downtown has to offer - improved walkability, increased capacity at restaurants, more opportunities for employment, and even better recognition of Downtown Frederick being a great place to visit. Seems like a win/win to me!

Joe Donegan I live and work in downtown Frederick, as stated in an earlier letter to the Mayor and Alderman, I was in full support of the steps taken to creativley create addtional outside seating in dowtnown. I believe the outdoor seating should continue, as it has in the past, but WITHOUT parklets. The City would need to relax the current outdoor seating regulations (ie. egress 3' clearence) this would enable all who wish to have outdoor seating to do so WITHOUT parkets. Also once the parkets are removed the City could offer free parking at the garages and or the meters to lure the traffic downtown.

My name is Malcolm Furgol and I live in downtown Frederick. The following represent my personal opinion as a private resident and registered voter in the city of Frederick. I wholeheartedly support continuing expanded outdoor dining in the downtown area. In addition, I believe the closure of Market St during the pandemic revealed an opportunity to go further than that and completely re-imagine our central downtown corridor to prioritize pedestrians, small businesses, restaurants, tourism, and resident safety. If the only reason we are concerned about making some of these changes is traffic patterns and parking then solving those problems will be worth it. Downtown Frederick is already a jewel in Maryland. If we were to reshape the Market ST corridor for pedestrians over cars we would become a premiere international tourism destination. We must not fool ourselves, success is never final as my university alma matter president always says. We must continue to develop our downtown area for attractiveness and amenities if we are to continue to attract the high quality biotech and other industries that have already been drawn to our great city. Without global first class features, which would also include finally building a downtown hotel, we will be shooting ourselves in the foot to the detriment of generations to come. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Melinda Donegan I have lived in downtown Frederick for almost 30 years. Its time for the parklets to go. Downtown frederick is more than just restaurants. These parklets seemed to help some restaurants during the pandemic, not all of them, and certainly couldnt have been a help to retailers. I walk and drive thru downtown daily. There is very little parking available. They have given a handful of restaurants the opportunity to double their footprint at the expense of retailers. Not every trip to downtown is for dining. There are salons, specialty shops, banks, museums… its no longer easy or enjoyable to pop downtown to shop. Not everyone wants to, or is able to, park in a deck and walk several blocks for a hair appt, …or to pop into a specific shop to pick up a baby shower gift…or to drop off at the bank. The unsightly barriers were there to help a few businesses and not the greater good. Again, not everyone headed downtown is there to leisurely stroll the streets, pop in and out of shops and enjoy a long lunch. Businesses are open during the week and rely on shoppers and those parklets are sitting empty. Not to mention, with all of the historical comm restrictions to business owners and homeowners and what is and isnt allowed aesthetically, im shocked that the huge, white, dirty, water-filled tanks were approved and left on our streets as long as they have.

I live downtown and walk around A LOT with my pup. I have a strong, general impression that the parklets and periodic closing of Market St have provided a much needed boost to our business' efforts to weather the Covid crisis. I also think that allowing the relaxed outdoor mingling of diners and pedestrians has helped restore a sense of community for our town. But we must acknowledge the comments of others here who believe the benefits have been concentrated to a few bars and restaurants while harming their own retail establishments. If that's the case, then we have a duty to mitigate those costs to them. But on the whole, if we determine that parklets and street closures raise the overall downtown foot traffic, we should embrace them and communicate them more clearly to the market.

Have we studied the actual impact on downtown businesses? Could we not task a city agency or DFP to actually collect "before and after" data to quantify the costs and benefits to local businesses? Could parklet "owners" pay more in rent, if they're really valuable to them? Could we issue tax credits to negatively impacted businesses if we determine that overall, the program is a net benefit to the City?

For me the most compelling observations are those who question whether the parklets are being used enough. I think if we continue with this initiative, we should make it semi-permanent to encourage the parklet owners to invest more in their spaces to make them more year-round and all-weather. I visited Manhattan for a few days over summer, and it was amazing what the restaurants did with their parklets, both aesthetically and practically, and how they created a great cultural vibe. And a constant flow of people. We could do that!

I recommend the Board vote to continue the program, for now, subject to more study of the impacts to businesses and more consideration given to both improving the outdoor experience and mitigating any negative impacts on local businesses.

I am a downtown business owner on East Patrick Street for 23 years I'm sure for some of the restaurants they have benefited by having the parklets and understand the customers wanting to eat outside during the pandemic but the restrictions have lifted.
Many of the retail merchants have waited patiently for the parklets to go away. Our shop handles a lot of furniture and it's been
very difficult and dangerous with receiving merchandise and delivering to customers vehicles. At any given time you will see very few diners in the parklet near our shop. The few meters that are left are always full. Our customers complain all the time about the parking and some have told us they are not coming back. Handicapped customers are totally out of luck finding a nearby parking spot. One of the 2 Commercial loading zones near our shop is now a large parklet causing delivering carriers to double park and lanes closing down. When events are held even smaller ones parking is a major problem. Street closures and continues with parklets does not benefit everyone. Thank you for your consideration.

Indoor dining is one of the most risky activities during this pandemic. Removing outdoor dining right now is illogical. While the weather allows it, outdoor dining will increase business at restaurants and reduce virus transmission. What argument for ending outdoor dining could possibly have more merit than that? Covid transmission will climb this fall as more people move inside and as schools are back in session - this is already happening. Why add another thing to drive numbers up? If you want restaurants to thrive why take this option away from them?

Mary Donahue, Downtown Frederick

I wholly support continuation of the parklets as a benefit to our Downtown economy and access to restaurant dining that otherwise would not be comfortable for many of us who are older or unable to be vaccinated (i.e. children), or immunocompromised. Indoor dining in our small historic spaces creates the highest risk of Covid spread per the CDC. The outdoor space provides a safe, convivial dining opportunity and encourages continued tourism.

Carolyn Hallahan Salamon resident of the city living in Worman's Mill. I am for the closing of Market St.on weekends. At minimum at least once a month (1st Saturday would make sense) to allow for outdoor dining and better space for all those wanting to come downtown and enjoy. Without the ability to eat outside AND social distance we are setting our businesses up (with the new COIVD surge) for failure. Parklets in the future could be re-imagined for better aesthetics, to better suit everyone opposed, but for the near term closing Market to allow for outdoor dining and safety just makes good sense for the safety of our downtown visitors, the residents, and the businesses and sets Frederick apart as the place to go, eat and buy goods!

Frederick, MD

Inconvenience should not be confused with burden.

As both a downtown resident and employee, parking is no more difficult now than it was before the pandemic. Outdoor dining has brought a flood of visitors from around the state and the nation to our visitor serving organization. We are hosting more guests now than we did in 2019, despite being closed three days a week compared to being open seven days a week before the pandemic. And that's with parklets closing off spots directly across the street from us.

Frederick is known as a friendly and welcoming place for visitors. Outdoor dining should be permanent, and Market Street should be closed more often. The minor headaches that come from parking loss and inconvenience are the cost of bringing in masses of people, especially on nice weekends, that are an incredible boon to our business.

Please close Market St. as often as possible. This will make Frederick a city with a friendlier downtown and will be beneficial for the downtown businesses

For decades, businesses have been successful along Market and Patrick streets without occupying sidewalks and streets. It's time to return to our quiet, and safe, downtown business district. Remove the street dining,

Lindsay Slawson, Frederick, MD.

As someone who has lived in downtown Frederick for a couple of years and now resides within minutes of downtown. I loved the parklets or barriers for additional outdoor seating. I think they should continue. I felt safer eating out in downtown Frederick when they were there. As someone who has young children I think it's important to still have opportunities to social distance. I also liked having extra barrier between pedestrians and traffic.

Chris Sparks - downtown Frederick, MD

I am both a resident and a small business owner downtown, writing in the absolute strongest support of continuing the outdoor/pop-up dining program indefinitely. Innovations taken by small businesses during the pandemic must not be rolled back. The outdoor dining zones have added something special to our community, and they need to be continued, not destroyed, for 3 reasons:

1) With the Delta variant on the rise, and transmission rates among Frederick residents at dangerous levels, now is not the time to counter safety measures put in place to help flatten the curve. We should not put people in harm's way for the sake of a few parking spots.

2) The outdoor dining ordinance benefits and is loved by Frederick residents. It gives us a way to enjoy and support our favorite businesses, all while adding unique dining experiences to downtown. Our quality of life has significantly improved due to the outdoor dining measures, and we want it continued.

3) The tourism benefits of the outdoor dining program are a vital lifeline to struggling small businesses working to stay ahead of COVID. The City should be doing all it can to help businesses, not sweeping the legs out from under them. The loss of a handful of parking spaces is a small price to pay for our beloved businesses downtown to survive.

COVID is still here, and is still dangerous. Now is not the time to change course. Thank you!

I’m the owner of Venus on the Half Shell, located at 101 East Patrick Street and have been a part of the downtown business community for 25 years. In those 25 years, I have never found that limiting access is helpful to any business. I am asking that the parklets NOT be extended. Downtown Fredrick is a vibrant mix of retail and service oriented business as well as restaurants. To favor certain restaurants at the expense of our other businesses is just not fair. We all rely on, and pay premium rents for, access and visibility and these barricades hinder both. Not only are the parklets an eyesore, they are a detriment and a deterrent. While the parklet near my shop sits unused and with a pile of plastic covered furniture most days, my customers are often forced to carry furniture purchases a block or more to load them. We all suffered during covid shutdowns and restrictions and we all did our best to support one another and make the best of things. That being said, I fail to see how gifting FREE real estate to a select group of restaurants is in the best interest for all of our downtown residents.

The barriers were a good idea at the time but it’s definitely time for them to go. They make Patrick Street look like a construction zone and rob the street if much of its charm. We need the parking spots. And when I walk down Patrick Street I don’t see that many people dining in those spaces.

Please discontinue the use of the parklets downtown as many are no longer being fully utilized. Returning the parking in these areas is beneficial to downtown business owners.

While it was an amazing idea to solve some of the crisis that Covid brought to all of us, it is clear that most of the restaurants over the long term are not using the parklets on Patrick Street. They sit completely unused the majority of the time. Sabor De Cuba and Nola seem to be the only 2 restaurants keeping regular hours and seating customers in them on a regular basis. For retailers to go another holiday season with parklets sitting empty for restaurants not even using them or open for business is not addressing the needs of the entire business community. If this program continues, it should be with a requirement of usage on a regular basis with restaurants being open and actively seating and utilizing the space for the majority of the time. If not, it is time for them to end so that businesses can return to operating under the new normal. Parking is absolutely necessary for all of us to thrive. For the retailers, it all comes down to 4th quarter, it is hard to believe that this is even up for continuation being that it is so largely underutilized on our street. The Patrick St deck's first two levels are library parking only, the street parking is taken up by unused parklets, trucks and clients trying to load large items from retail have to double park creating traffic issues. We are fast approaching holiday season and it is a miststep to continue this with no requirements, no buy in, no accountability for them to be actively in use. There are no longer interior capacity restrictions, so fundamentally with them not being used or needed they should end.

I am a downtown business owner who loves our downtown for so many reasons; the great mix of retail, restaurants, and other services is what makes Downtown Frederick a great place to work, shop and eat; we all depend on easy access to downtown and adequate parking to be successful. When COVID hit, retail businesses and other services were willing to make the sacrifice of losing parking spaces to help restaurants who could not serve diners indoors. However, for many months, indoor dining has had no restrictions. I was personally assured by some people in city government that the parklets would definitely go away 30 days after the end of the Governor's State of Emergency, or Oct. 31, whichever came first, no matter what. The State of Emergency ended on Aug. 15, so the parklets should go away Sept. 15, as promised. It makes no sense to continue the detrimental parklet program when there are no dining restrictions in place.
Last summer when indoor restrictions existed, the parklets seemed to be of benefit to the restaurants, but through the winter months, they were rarely used, and even through this spring and summer, their use has been sporadic. Through the week or off times of day, most of them sit empty, especially when the weather is less than ideal. Ironically, these bad weather times are also when shoppers most appreciate having a parking space nearby their destination. It was particularly difficult in the fourth quarter, when retailers, also reeling from the pandemic, depended so heavily on shoppers who couldn't find a place to park or travel downtown because the streets were closed, but observed empty parklets up and down the streets where parking should have been available.
The parklet program may have been successful for a few restaurants, but many of them were rarely used, especially now, and they are a definite detriment to other businesses downtown. As well, the weekend street closures were used very sparingly by diners during the daytime, while shoppers could not get downtown to visit the retail stores. On one such Saturday this summer, I watched as many people walked up and down the street past the Square Corner. I counted four people with a shopping bag. These closures discourage serious shoppers from coming downtown. Please remove the parklets as promised, and do not close the streets on weekends. And please do not reinstate curbside pickup; that removes even more precious parking if the parklets remain.