Petition: remove meters from Thayer St.
By: Melissa Randall
@MRandallABC6
The marquee at the Avon Cinema on Thayer Street in Providence reads “No More Parking Meters!” It’s a clear message to city leaders expressing how the small business feels about their customers having to feed the meter.
“How could you watch a movie with your eye on your watch? You know what I mean? I’ve had people come up in the middle of a show, ‘oh you didn’t like it?’ ‘No, no I just have to pay the parking meter,’” said owner Richard Dulgarian. “How many times are they going to do that before they decide ‘I’ll get a Netflix account’?”
The Avon’s owners say business has been down 30 to 40 percent, ever since the kiosks were introduced last year. The cinema is pushing through, but others like dress shop Zuzu’s Petals, which had been in this location for more than 25 years, couldn’t take it anymore. They packed up and said good–bye Providence.
“I, fortunately, have an East Greenwich location and a Barrington location, so I could close there and regroup, but some people just have one spot of business and they are suffering up there,” said owner Lois Hollingsworth.
There are currently about a dozen empty store fronts on the street. Many of them, including the Verizon Wireless retail shop, share a similar story to Zuzu’s. But the businesses that are left standing are refusing to go down with out a fight.
More than 3,5000 people have signed an online petition to get the meters removed. Still, Dulgarian says even if the kiosks were tomorrow, the damage is already done.
“So if we say hey we got rid of our parking meters they are going to say so what. We found something else we liked, and so this street built up its business over 50, 60, 70 years. We have to then start rebuilding it,” said Dulgarian.
ABC6 did reach out to the Providence Mayor and the City Councilor who represents Thayer Street district. So far they have not returned our requests for comment.
© WLNE-TV 2016
