“We all agree they ought to be able to put something out there,” Alliance President Kim Simpson said this week.
The question, Simpson said, is how much.
Earlier this week Mayor Emery Doughtie asked Main Street Director Charles Williams to talk with the merchants who received notices to remove their items from the sidewalk by Friday. “What we’re going to do as a group is to survey them and come back and look at the ordinance,” Simpson said. “We want it to be palatable for everyone.”
At issue is a city ordinance which forbids businesses from displaying items on the sidewalk, an ordinance which was last updated in 1973. “You can track it beyond 1973,” Simpson said. “It probably goes way back to the 1950s.”
By studying different ordinances, Simpson believes the alliance and merchants can find regulations which work for everyone.
The city earlier this week said business owners are encouraged to talk with their council representatives about getting on a work session agenda. Work sessions are held the first Tuesday of the month at 5:15 p.m. at city hall on Roanoke Avenue. Council meetings are held the second Tuesday of every month at the Lloyd Andrews City Meeting Hall on Jackson Street at 7 p.m.
The alliance meets Tuesday at 1 p.m. at Timeless Tea for its next meeting.
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