This parking lot owned by United Bank is now being monitored by a private security firm to ensure customer and staff use only. (Photo by Hope E. Tremblay)
WESTFIELD – Laurie Varelas, owner of the downtown staple The Good Table, said parking has become more and more of a problem for her customers.
Varelas said United Bank owns the parking lot behind her restaurant, but does not allow use of the lot by anyone else. While Varelas respects that the bank owns the lot, she said many customers are complaining there is nowhere else to park and they are being asked to move their vehicles, even customers who first go to the bank, then The Good Table.
“They have three security guards patrolling the lot and every potential customer that gets out of their vehicle is asked if they are coming here and told they can’t park there,” Varelas said.
Varelas said she has also been asked to move, even when she parks against the building which she said is part of her rental space. The building is owned by Peter Velis.
“We have 7.5 feet of space around the building,” said Varelas. “I have been harassed by security for the bank when I park there.”
Varelas said she had hoped the bank would be a good business neighbor and allow some use of the lot for her customers.
“I went in to talk to them but I was told no,” Varelas said. “There was no discussion.”
United Bank Senior Vice President of Marketing Dena Hall said there has been a history of discussions between the bank and neighboring businesses.
“We began discussions with our neighbors in 2008 regarding the parking situation, letting them know that affording staff and customer parking for them would leave little or no parking for our own customers,” said Hall. “Since that time, we have communicated both in person and in writing with The Good Table to explain our reasons. They have not cooperated. Our customers frequently complain that they must drive through our parking lot several times before finding a spot. Our branch opens at 9 a.m. The Good Table opens much earlier. When our staff arrives to start their day, often our parking lot is full, leaving few spots for early morning customers. This also presents a problem for snow removal in the winter, as our lot must be empty to be cleared before the branch opens at 9 a.m.”
Hall acknowledged there may have been a change of hands at The Good Table since their last discussions. However, the lot is privately owned, she said.
“United Bank owns the 35 spaces in the parking lot adjacent to our building on Elm Street in Westfield. Our branch has a minimum of 12 staff members and is a busy branch with high customer traffic counts all day, every day. Some transactions take 15 minutes – others could take up to two hours. It is not that we are unwilling to work with The Good Table to provide parking spaces for their staff and customers. We simply cannot sacrifice parking spaces for our own customers to ensure that The Good Table has parking,” stated Hall.
Hall said beginning this week, a private security firm is monitoring the United Bank parking lot to ensure it is used by United Bank customers and staff. Those parking in the lot during business hours, who are not a bank customers, will be asked to move and/or will be towed at the owner’s expense.
Hall noted that monitoring the lot is nothing new.
“Restricting use of our parking lot for our employees and customers is not a new practice. Prior to our renovations, United Bank employed a parking lot attendant to monitor and enforce use of our parking lot,” she said. “When this person retired and our renovations were complete, we had hoped to work directly with our neighbors to ensure proper use of the United Bank owned lot and spaces.”
City Advancement Officer Jeffrey Daley said he patrons both businesses and acknowledged parking can be tight, but said there are public parking options available to restaurant customers, albeit not as convenient as the bank lot.
“There are public lots across from The Good Table, next to the Bistro lot and on Church Street,” Daley said. “(The United Bank) lot is a privately owned lot and it’s not in the city’s purview to step-in.”
There are instances where the city has worked with private businesses to accommodate overflow parking, such as the arrangement The Westfield News has with city to share the News’ parking lot with the Westfield Police Department next door.
Both United Bank and The Good Table are members of the Westfield Business Improvement District (BID), which aids downtown businesses. However, BID Director Maureen Belliveau said she wasn’t able to comment on the situation because she did not have all the information and she was not sure it was in BID’s “realm” to intervene.
Varelas said she is very upset and hopes to have some cooperation for use of the lot, but is prepared to make it known to her customers – through signs and on her menu – that the bank is not open to allowing anyone to park there for anything other than bank business.
“We don’t want to impede on any bank business,” she said. “We’re not trying to take any business away from the bank. We just want to have convenience for our customers. People have parked there for a long time – this place was an icon downtown long before we took over.”
Hall said she wishes the situation had not escalated.
“We are disappointed that the owners of The Good Table feel it is necessary to bring this situation to the Westfield News and to post a sign in their business admonishing United Bank for not allowing patrons of other businesses to park in the bank-owned parking lot,” she said. “However, providing excellent customer service and convenient access to our branch for our customers is our number one priority and to do this we must make available all 35 spots owned by United Bank for United Bank customers and staff.”
