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Group that wants Market Street in Potsdam closed to motor traffic makes pitch to village trustees

Posted 8/24/16

By CRAIG FREILICH POTSDAM -- A group that wishes to permanently close the first block of Market Street to motor traffic and make it into a year-round pedestrian mall made a presentation to the …

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Group that wants Market Street in Potsdam closed to motor traffic makes pitch to village trustees

Posted

By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM -- A group that wishes to permanently close the first block of Market Street to motor traffic and make it into a year-round pedestrian mall made a presentation to the village Board of Trustees Monday.

The Sandstone Block Coalition has started a petition at Change.org and has gathered 960 online supporters of their idea.

Market Street from Main to Elm Street would be closed to traffic for it to be “a place for people to meet and spend an afternoon; a place to gather. It aspires to bring a renewed energy to Potsdam. It aspires to attract tourists. It aspires to be a selling point for college recruitment. Simply, it aspires to be the heart of Potsdam,” according to the preamble on the Chamge.org page.

“In principle, it’s a good idea,” said Mayor Ron Tischler.

“We should approach it with an open mind,” he said. “Whether it’s doable or not remains to be seen.”

Tischler said organizer Jason Clark of Norfolk and the Sandstone Block Coalition will be making a presentation to the Potsdam Town Council soon. He said the village, the town and the state Department of Transportation would all have a say in the plan.

He said it would be an extension of the Potsdam Summer Festival’s closing of that block for several days in July for the annual celebration, which includes music performances at a stage in the street, sidewalk sales, and food and other vendors, and also of the “First Saturday” downtown business promotion early in the new fall college semester “when all the students are back and the block is closed of for a day,” the mayor said.

“The issue I have is that in summertime the students are gone and a lot of local residents are on vacation or go camping. Whether or not we can pull them in is a question I would have.”

The idea “is creative, and I applaud that. But we can’t jump in. We would have to take baby steps,” he said.