New Paltz: New Public Seating Is Raising Questions
Now that restaurants are able to serve people using outdoor seating, some towns in the Hudson Valley are getting creative with how they can assists restaurants that don't have any outdoor seating available. Some towns have close of streets but some aren't able to do that so they have come up with another idea. That is just what they did in the Village of New Paltz and it seems to be going over pretty well but some folks still have a few questions.
According to an email that went out to business owners in New Paltz on June 8th Mayor Tim Rogers called Teresa Thompson of Main Street Bistro with the idea of turning a parking lot that the Village of New Paltz leases into an outdoor dining space. Driving by that parking lot today I saw that they are ready to go. Teresa states in her email that she contacted Gary Newkirk at the Ulster County Fair grounds and he generously donated the picnic table that are being used for seating. The email also went onto explain that Teresa will be coordinating with local restaurants and business to maintain the space. Plus extra garbage cans have been added which will be emptied throughout the day by Village personnel.
As you can imagine doing this has raised questions from the public. The Village of New Paltz shared the news today via their Facebook page but wasn't clear in the post that provisions were being made for maintaining the space. This has resulted in a lot of questions from the public but overall most folks are happy to see that people visiting the Viillage of New Paltz will have some additional spaces outdoors to enjoy a meal.
One suggestion from the Facebook page was that the tables should have umbrellas. For now we have not heard whether that suggestion will be considered. Another question was in regards to alcoholic beverages being consumed in the seating area. As of the time of publishing we have not heard how that will be addressed. And someone also asked if the tables will be cleaned between uses? I am going to take a long shot here and say No. It is a good idea while we are going through the phases of re-opening that we keep in mind that we should be policing ourselves in public. Always wear a mask and bring hand sanitizer for your group.