REPORT ON WALK THE VILLAGE-JUNE 9

On Saturday, June 9, ARRG hosted "Walk The Village" for community leaders, residents, with representatives from Partners for a Livable WNY. Below is a copy of the report for your perusal. This report was also mailed to 100 village businesses, establishments, property owners, as well as several village and town officials, and other interested parties.

REPORT ON ALDEN VILLAGE WALK-JUNE 9
The ARRG hosted a walk through the village for business people, community leaders, residents, and representatives from Partners for a Livable WNY on Saturday June 9.
After a discussion period, groups paired off to walk throughout the village, with PLWNY taking notes and asking questions. At the conclusion of the walk there was a ninety-minute review of observations, and recommendations, with a question and answer period. PLWNY shared their suggestions about how to improve the village.
Most of these professional consultants had never been to Alden before, and of course, didn't know anybody here, so they were looking at us with a fresh pair of eyes and no preconceived notions. They noticed many things that we take for granted.
Since not all of the businesses, establishments, and individuals along Broadway were able to attend this enlightening event, we are providing a copy of the discussion for you. Your establishment may not have been specifically mentioned, however you are welcome to take some of their ideas and incorporate them for your own business and/or property. You may also contact PLWNY and ask them about your establishment and what they might suggest for you.
The over-all synopsis was that Alden has one great thing going for it; that Route 20 goes right down the middle of the village. It also has one definite obstacle, also that Route 20 goes right down the middle of the village. Mr. Grasser stated, "If the road looks like a shotgun, cars will drive like bullets".
Advantage of Route 20: Lots of traffic goes by us. Disadvantage of Route 20: They aren't stopping to shop, or eat because we aren't all encouraging them to do so.
Please read on to see various things that can be done to make the village of Alden a more "user-friendly" town. Their overall theme was that if we can get the traffic to slow down, (then) more people will stop, shop, eat, and walk. If more people are walking, then even more cars will stop, and the entire "feeling" of our community will change.
If you have questions, or comments, please contact us at the ARRG and let us try to help. We discovered at this meeting, that there are many folks along Broadway who would like to see some changes, but don't know how to go about doing it. Requirements to create a thriving community include new attitudes and co-operation by all. Things won’t change overnight, but if we all work together we can help keep Alden a “3 Generation Town”.
The PLWNY spent several hours in our community on Saturday, at no charge. They provided their professional advice on how we can make the Village of Alden at better community. They would like to return in one year to see what improvements we have made.

Partners for a Livable WNY Professional Consultants
George Grasser, President, retired attorney, developer, real estate consultant
Don Erb - Head of Residental Housing at University of Buffalo
Jim Rozanski - architect
Michael Cerrone - attorney & Hamburg Village trustee
Rich Taczkowski - planner & N Collins Village and Town planning board,
now Urban Planning Adirondacks Parks
Gail Plato - mortgage banker, Citizens Bank
Bill Harrington - attorney
Phil Haberstro - Exec Director Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo

Town & Village Officials/Local Business People
Supervisor - Ron Smith Councilwoman - Mary Riddoch
Mayor - Mick Kubik Village Trustee - Mike Manicki
Village Planning Board - Sue DeWitt Town Planning Board - Mike DeWitt

Economic Development Committee members
Chairman - Ian McPherson Member - Nancy Hughes
Chamber of Commerce
President - Chris Gust Vice President/Town Attorney - Jennifer Strong
Director - Steve Weber

Attendees/Local Business People
Tom Steffan Sue Galbraith
Chuck Airey Vikki Weisbeck
Doug Henry Gary Wagner
Frank DiChristina

Other individuals
Sandie Karpie, Barb & Jerry Lipa, Carl Matthies, Margaret Rose, Paul & Laura Loehr,
Conrad and Carol Borucki, Keith & Michele Hoffman, Ron & Gail Rebmann, Mike Colson, Coleen Czechowski

If we missed anybody on this list, or have errors, please let us know.

The following is a synopsis of comments made by the various PLWNY members, in no particular order. Please contact us if there is anything that is not clear to you, or you wish to comment or question further.

George-
It’s a NYS law that traffic MUST stop for pedestrians. GET CROSS WALK SIGNS SAYING THIS! They are making them out of some new material. Go to Main & Goodell. Look at Los Angeles artistic crosswalks. Turn them into art!
There should be more signage explaining what’s going on in the park for people driving by to see.
“If the road looks like a shotgun, the cars will drive like bullets”
Need to sell the bar, and turn it into something like the Akron House.
Consider diagonal parking in some places along Broadway
Country Pride Deli is doing great. Why??
Cars don’t bring business, PEOPLE bring business.
Business owners should be open when our concerts in the park are on.
Restaurants-Tim Horton’s (or similar) will eventually come. Avoid drive through. Drive-thrus bring death to a town.
Wal-Mart will definitely hurt the small businesses in the village.
Farmer’s Market - bring it more into the center of the village, or in the park, or at the very least, if you have to keep it in the plaza, move it up to the street. Remember most of your traffic is not from Alden. They can’t see it until it’s too late for them to stop.
Location as is is too far from other village businesses, and too far to encourage pedestrians.
Zoning and design standards need to be addressed right away. If a chain comes to town, they must adjust their “look” to fit into Alden, not to their brand. That’s why nobody wants an old McDonalds.
Bandstand park is not pedestrian friendly. Again, there must be a cross walk from Broadway.
Need lines on the road
Sidewalks at east end of town are too narrow.
Define the black top better
Trash can (especially in front of Alden Advertiser) needs to be replaced, even though it has sentimental value. It looks bad.
Alden bar, cigarette butts, the railing, it just looks ugly.
Bank looks great.
Plaza - look what they did with the Appletree Mall, business instead of retail. A business would bring employees. They are PEOPLE who will spend money here, maybe move here.
Candy Store-should be open in the summer. If they don’t want to sell candy, sell something else. The best location in the village. Keeping it closed in the summer, hurts other businesses too.
Other towns to look to-- Skaneateles, Fayetteville, NY , Mansfield, Ohio


Bill-
Too much pavement (example at the bank & gas stations) dress it up with flower, plants, islands)
Having the schools in the village is very good, very rare. Advertise it to potential residents.
Make the post office move back into the center of the village when their lease is up.
Plaza-no easy answer, suggest tearing it out and putting in housing (townhouses) mixed with other retail/eatery development, closer to the road to encourage more walk-in traffic.
Wal-Mart would be a real challenge for village businesses
We have a bandstand park that other towns would die for. Use it more often.
Sidewalks need a lot of work to improve.
Sell coffee with tables in front of pharmacy. Encourage people to sit and stay.


Rich-
Flowers are too short in the island middle Broadway. Need to have taller more vertical plants. Look at Orchard Park Four Corners for examples.
Need to market our town to other people. Never sees us advertised anywhere
Advertise that the Historical Society is open often. Most are not. Increase tourism.
Focus on a plan for getting retail and restaurants
Signage-contact “Main St Alliance” for plan to attract niche and special retail.
Put furniture outside in front of the pharmacy, make it more inviting, place to sit, has great potential.

Phil-
It was apparent to him that we have a great quality of life here.
Get our assets cataloged and marketed.
Community needs to come together
Didn’t see any bike racks anywhere, no bike lanes.
Possible rebirth of spas (black water baths) at least for historic/tourism
Contact Train heritage group to bring a touring train to village
Sell/market our town. People ARE moving to WNY from other places. Our proximity to the city and the more urban areas is great. Contact real estate agents who specialize in migration recipients about us. Emphasize our assets (school/park in the village, Top Ten schools, quality of life, etc).
Advertise in For Ever Young, After 50, other WNY magazines

Don-
Focus on neighborhoods, and get the word out!
Open the candy store ALL year!
Have a tour of century homes, or a garden walk
Work on ordinances
Farmer’s market is in the wrong place, needs to be in center of the village, to encourage more business for everyone.
Cross walk in center of town REQUIRED! He would never try to cross with his family
Need something like an Akron House Restaurant
SLOW DOWN THE TRAFFIC
Need bulletin board announcing concert dates and other events
Need to advertise in WNY papers

Gail-
Need to fill empty space, every nook and cranny
Use Top Ten Schools as a draw to new residents
Focus on getting new families
Safety and quality of life here is unique

Mike-
Village was welcoming, had good green space
Complimented on how Ron Smith’s businesses looked
Sidewalks good on the south, terrible on the north
Need to make Broadway look better, more inviting
Those ugly poles in front of the library????
Look to East Aurora, newly renovated Central Ave in Lancaster
Put lines on the road entering the village from the East, narrow the road, this will make the cars slow down. Stripe it, 10 ft lanes, DOT will come and do this. Call them on MONDAY!
Widen the sidewalks
Front of the Value plaza looks terrible
“I couldn’t buy any candy for my kids, or find a place to buy flowers for my wife”.

Jim-
Cars will slow down if there is activity on the sidewalks
Impressed with our eclectic mix.
Move the Farmer’s market to the middle of the village.
Take an inventory of your pluses and minus’
Get Bennetts Manu. to design something for us.
Plaza-get artist to create a concept. Get the village code enforcer to get owner to comply. Get the community, the newspapers, and village officials to put pressure on the owner, hopefully he will sell. It would be easier to get retailers to come, if they knew Wal-Mart wasn’t coming.
Get the DOT to mark crosswalks. It is a NYS LAW that cars must stop for pedestrians.
Need stripes and signs. This will slow down traffic. It’s more “traffic calming”.