Big Top, a toy store on E Hartsdale Ave, has joined the liquor store and is open for business. Both stores were out for weeks, due to the flood. Not all the news is good. HSBC is closing the Hartsdale branch. It's possible that other businesses won't survive.
Today, I spent some time on the avenue. The parking garage is empty. It's very easy to find parking in front of the stores --because many stores on E Hartsdale Ave are out of business. The stores on the other side of the street that are open (they were not flooded out) are losing lots of money because there is not enough street traffic.
What can the town do to help the store owners survive? One suggestion I have is to consider renting space at the vacant HSBC space --for a satellite library. About 70% of the books the library owns is in storage. The current library locations are very small.
1) There is a need for another temporary library location during the construction of the new library.
2) East Hartsdale Ave needs additional street traffic.
3) Additional street traffic will help the surviving businesses stay in business -- will bring more people into the stores along the avenue.
4) In the past, vacant stores have stayed vacant for a few years, making it more difficult to attract quality tenants to the street. If the town rents space we will help the avenue and the Hartsdale economy.
PAUL FEINER
Greenburgh Town Supervisor