Dunkirk Mayor Richard Frey has come under criticism from some quarters over the lease of property from Dutch Bertges, LLP for additional parking on the waterfront. He has also caught some heat for the loss of parking for fishing trailers in the immediate pier area.
At a recent meeting of the Dunkirk Local Development Corporation, the mayor addressed both issues. Passing around crowd shots from a Music on the Pier event, Frey said the pictures reinforced the need for additional parking in the pier area and the action taken.
Frey told the DLDC board members the owners of the Bertges lot were contacted on June 29 with an agreement reached July 1 to accommodate the July 2 Music on the Pier and the Fourth of July celebration. That change in boat-trailer parking and revamped parking lines in front of the Boardwalk Market meant the city has converted 32 boat trailer parking spots to 66 retail parking spots over the last two years.
"Like all business, we need to turn our traffic constantly, we like to have our parking available for retail, "Frey said. "Please don't misinterpret where I'm coming from about the fishermen or what their value to the city is. (Fishing) tournaments, we can't replace that dollar they bring in. They bring in a tremendous amount of money."
Frey explained the issue was tying up the spaces with day-long boat-trailer parking.
"I can also make a statement that you're seeing many people come in out of Buffalo, stop at the reservation and pick up their gas at less money and probably go the cooler route and came here and launched for five bucks and park it there all day," he said. " ... We went over and leased this parking lot right next door. It couldn't be more convenient right there. ... You can launch your boat, come out and walk over and get your trailer and truck or vehicle. ... You can see your boat.
" ... We turned it around in two years and started getting tourist dollars back to our community and that's the big issue here. I think that is why I did it and acted the way I did."
Frey ran down the estimated attendance at the city's events. Included were 12,000 people at the Music on the Pier events; 13,000 for the city's other festivals; 2,000 at the city-sponsored movies and some 15,000 at the July 4 celebration.
"That's tourist dollars. Those are good dollars but also a lot of local dollars. The people are getting involved, they are coming down," Frey said. "Our job is to bring traffic into the city and we're all doing an excellent job. These are all the things that I thought was the justification in doing the lease, doing it so rapidly. If I need to apologize I take full total responsibility for it. I thought the urgency was there."
Frey asked for questions from the board.
"We would agree that the purchase of the lease for the parking was a good idea ... it increased the parking for the boaters as well it made it closer," member Michael Michalski said. "You certainly acted within the by-laws of the DLDC. ... I still think that maybe going forward, we've done this in the past, is a phone call to board members to get a general consensus so it's not one person's decision. It's a group decision and this way it's not all falling on your shoulders or Kory's shoulders. Let the board assert some responsibility too."
Michalski said a 24-hour turnaround from the board was possible.
"If I had to do it over again that's the first thing I should have done," Frey said. "I should have probably called half a dozen board members. ... I agree with you 100 percent."
Frey said he did not want to make light of the board's concerns.
"We ask you to serve, you should be a part of it. You're out there taking some flak for it too," Frey said.
Frey added that people from Buffalo suburbs have made their presence, and money, felt at the city's events. He asked Development Director Kory Ahlstrom for a "guess-o-matic" figure.
"Greater that a half a million bucks, less than a million," Ahlstrom replied. "I know it's a broad number but just based on establishments' normal Thursday numbers and ... we know about how many rooms we generated and we're working off that number. I know how much the festivals and the single-day events generated in sales. With 40,000 people that's $20 per person. ... The numbers are actually less than that with kids, $10 a person is still $400,000."
Included in the DLDC members meeting packet was a copy of the by-laws and the lease with Bertges. Talk of a winter festival followed.
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