A sign at the entrance of the United Bank parking lot warns drivers that their car could be towed for non-bank business. The Good Table Restaurant has a back door facing the parking lot. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The arrival of spring is something Lori Varelas, owner of The Good Table Restaurant on School Street, has been looking forward to for a long time, but not for the reason one might expect.
“This winter killed us,” Varelas said Thursday. “On-street parking – there was none because of the snow bank.”
The location of Varelas’ business has proven problematic as of late, as The Good Table, which is sandwiched between Santander and United banks, is still suffering from a lack of sufficient parking for its patrons, which she said is causing major headaches for her and her loyal customers.
“You’ve got a parking structure coming in. I’ve seen the design layout,” she said. “We need more parking – less grass, less concrete. We support (other local businesses), but for some reason, certain neighbors are just not thinking of the bigger picture.”
Varelas said that neither of the banks that neighbor her establishment will allow her customers to park in their lots.
“It doesn’t just impact The Good Table,” she said of the parking woes being felt by the city’s side street business contingent. “Unless you’re on the main drag, there’s nothing (for parking) down here.”
Varelas stated that she begged Berkshire Bank on Western Avenue for three or four spots with which to park some of the cars for her customers and employees.
One-hour parking is allowed on the north side of School Street as indicated by numerous signs located along the roadway. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
“They never got back to me,” she said, adding that she spoke with someone in the corporate office at United Bank who didn’t want her parking behind the restaurant.
“I had to say ‘hold on a minute. I pay for that. I rent that. That’s in the contract with my landlord,'” Varelas said. “She replied that the only one who’s allowed to park there is the attorney (next door). I said ‘I’m going to stay there till my landlord says I have to move.'”
Varelas’ parking woes have been so severe that she said she threatened to pull her accounts from one of the two banks and go to Westfield Bank.
“I said to them ‘I don’t want to do that,'” she said. “I don’t want to print on my menus that neither United nor Santander will allow you to park in their lots while eating in my establishment. That wouldn’t look good for downtown Westfield. It would leave a bitter taste in our customer’s mouths.”
While Santander’s Westfield branch did not return a call from The Westfield News Friday, Dena Hall, vice president of marketing and communication for United Bank, said the bank’s parking lot is only large enough for it’s customers.
“This is a busy branch, our customers have to be able park, and unfortunately, we can’t allocate spots,” she said. “It’s our lot, and we need the spaces. That’s the unfortunate reality of being a downtown business.”
Hall added that the bank’s policy isn’t related to liability concerns, as they allow people to park there after business hours, and that their own Northampton branch is in a similar situation to many of Westfield’s parking-afflicted businesses.
“As much as we want to be a good neighbor, we need these spots. Our Northampton branch has no parking either, so I have to park two blocks away to get to it,” she said. “The great thing we can celebrate is that Westfield’s downtown is picking up. People want to bank and eat here. The intermodal center is going to benefit everyone’s best interests.”
Varelas is hopeful that City Hall can somehow help out with the situation.
“City officials have to step in somewhere and help the small business owners or we’re all going to be closing shop,” she said. “I can’t pay my bills waiting on sunny days hoping my customers will come in when one parks and one leaves.”
Community Development Director Peter Miller has heard the cries for help.
“We recognize the challenges that all downtown businesses face when it comes to parking,” he said. “It’s not going to get any easier as we try to attract more businesses, particularly with The Hangar opening.”
Miller said that he anticipates a greater demand, but the ownership situation of many downtown lots complicates matters.
“When all of the lots in the immediate vicinity are owned privately, we really need to come up with more creative solutions about how to deal with it,” he said. “The parking garage is still into the future, and it’s not going to help us with our immediate issues. Throwing more money at parking isn’t something that we have the resources to do at this point.”
Santander Bank which is located across the street from the Good Table Restaurant on School Street is clearly marked for bank business only. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Varelas also spoke of a previous statement by Mayor Daniel M. Knapik about the city possibly purchasing the parking lot from United Bank, which Miller said withered on the vine.
“We had discussions with them. United just recently announced they’re merging with Rockville Bank in Connecticut,” he said. “We thought that there might be an opportunity to look at how they were deporting these assets, but if they were going to be merging with someone who already had a presence in our downtown, there may have been an opportunity to do some purchase.”
“Now that they’ve gone with someone from out of the area, it looks like they’re going to be there for the foreseeable future,” Miller said. “And while that’s a good thing, it also means that they have their own needs for parking.”
“With the pending building of the intermodal center and with the Gaslight District project both coming up within the next 12 to 18 months, this is going to be a challenging time for everybody, because whether it’s the Landsdowne Place people or general permit parking, we’re going to have to take a real close look at our policies.” Miller said.
