GREENE – It was standing room only at Monday night’s village board meeting in Greene, as the municipality’s mayor and trustees discussed a local event which has some community members and local business owners grumbling, while even more sing its praises.
The event in question is the Greene Cruise-In – a bi-weekly classic car show which organizers say draws an average of 125 street rods and antique automobiles as well as scores of spectators to the downtown area every other Thursday from May through October.
“I believe it is definitely a positive thing for downtown,” said Mayor Marcia Miller in a phone interview yesterday. “(But) there are some kinks we need to work out, and parking is one of them.”
After receiving a few complaints from businesses on the north side of Genesee Street, village leaders surveyed a number of downtown businesses.
“It basically brought up the concerns about parking,” Miller reported. That said, the response from the majority of the businesses who completed the survey commented on it being a positive for the community and say they want to see the program continue.
“You hear a lot of good comments all over,” the mayor said, explaining that even when she is out of the area people stop her to praise the event, saying it is a “nice summer night activity” which they can bring their families to.
“I think we can take care of the parking concerns,” she said.
Event organizer Enzo Olivieri, who owns Nathanael Greene’s Publick House with his wife Irene, agrees.
“There are some concerns about parking ... but those can all be addressed,” the local businesses owner said. He and his fellow organizers, Barry Stephens of Tri-County Collision and Wes “Big Wally” VanVoorhies, are already working on a solution. They plant to contact downtown banks to see about using their parking lots during the events, and plan to put up additional signage. To alleviate the concerns of businesses who said their customers had difficulty parking during the events, they won’t begin to put out cones until later next year.
And, according to Olivieri, both the Brisben Fire Department and Neil Guiles from Vestal Asphalt have offered to assist the Greene Fire Police direct traffic.
On the village’s end, Miller reported that 15-minute parking will be allowed on Driscoll Street, a one-way street perpendicular to Genesee.
Olivieri has also begun the process of applying for a permit from the New York State Department of Transportation, which has authority over the thoroughfare, to allow for the traffic diversion. Once they are granted that permit, they will have to go before the village board again to get their final seal of approval to continue with the event next year.
Despite the challenges, Olivieri and his fellow organizers remain committed to the Cruise- In.
“Our main goal and our objective right from the start is to promote our local) businesses and to attract people to our community so they can enjoy what we have,” Olivieri explained.