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HARRISON, N.Y. – Harrison residents want more commercial development downtown to attract more shoppers.
“We need more shops and stores that are going to attract people from out of town to spend their money in Harrison,” said resident Cathy McCann. “Most of the businesses we have are pizzerias, dry cleaners and tile stores. We need some more options.”
McCann said that she would like to see improvements done downtown similar to what the town did in West Harrison over the previous decade. As does resident Tommy Leavy, who said that downtown could use better lighting and more parking.
“We also need more stuff for the kids to do,” Leavy said.
But some residents think that the way the town has gone about development over the last decade has not been sufficient. Resident John Ritch said that there is “too much bureaucracy” in town, which leads to the town “wasting money.” But Ritch is not against development. He said that he would like to see something done with the land on Oakland Avenue across the street from the Claremon Shopping Center.
“They’ve tried to build ball fields there before but there is a lot of dirt that sags when it rains,” Ritch said. “I’d like to see them build a cinema. We really don’t have room for more parks downtown but maybe in some section of West Harrison.”
McCann suggested that the land be used as a walking trail. Though she would support creating more open space in town, McCann said that there really isn’t anywhere to put it.
“This town needs some character,” McCann said. “We have it in some of the old buildings but we have the open land on Oakland Avenue, which only geese are utilizing right now.”
Town Board Trustee Marlane Amelio said that she is happy that the master plan is being brought back to the table adding that it is vital to have one to create a strong economic base.
“It’s great that we finally have some advocates on the town board besides me who want to get an updated master plan together,” Amelio said.
A public work session regarding the master plan will be held tomorrow night at 8 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building located at 216 Halstead Ave.
Comments (6)
I am also happy the current administration is moving to revitalize the downtown area. I want to offer an example of another town we could possibly model after besides Rye.
Hartsdale is a good example. In the town of Hartsdale where the train station is, they have really revitalized the area toward the residents that live there and work in manhattan. They offer cono/coops for young professionals to purchase. The train station has a starbucks in it, the street has a New York Sports Club, very nice chic restaurants that are highly rated and modern as well as a bakery/coffee shop to sit outside in the summer, smoothie/healthy shop and a farmers market. The street has it all and attracts many shoppers because it caters to those that are commuting during the day and those going out at night to eat dinner or go workout. Of course there are the regular pizzeria's and dry cleaners that Harrison has but it is missing the aspects that would attract young twenty/thirty somethings that want to live and commute into Manhattan. If they fall in love with the town at that point, they get married and have kids and then look for homes in the town as well. I hope the administration comes up with a unique/modern idea that will cater to the families and elderly that are already here as well as the young working adults commuting to the city.
Thank you for the explanation Harrison29. I still think we may want to do something with the stores we have before we move forward with lengthy projects. I also agree with the Chef Ramsey makeover idea. Perhaps the Oakland Ave swamp could be a parking lot with a shuttle or trolly service to the various shopping areas. It is a shame the Harrison Cinema stands idol. If this were open we would get people going to the shows and then spending money on dinner or whatever else in the down town area.
Meant Oakland Ave, not Oakdale.
pat930- I agree with most of what you're saying but I think the MTA project will bring people to downtown. Store fronts are empty because no one wants to come downtown anymore. Parking isn't good so it makes it tough to come downtown. The MTA proposal will offer much more parking and apartments for NEW residents of Harrison. These people would be the buyers at the stores and restaurants. And with the parking, more people would come downtown to dine. Now as for dining, that is the problem. The restaurants are subpar. We need a Gordan Ramsey-like makeover of these places. They feel old and gloomy. It doesn't help that they aren't busy either which makes them even more gloomy. I'm not going to point out which restaurants, but if you have eaten downtown you know what I mean. But I will point out Pizza 2000. They have it right. They have a kid friendly environment and the workers there are all nice. You feel welcomed when you come. Now, back to downtown. How many dry cleaners do we need in this town? We need good boutiques like they have in Rye. Restaurants need to improve. So in the end, I am all for the MTA project. From what I have read it will be funded by the MTA (if they still have the money) and by the developer. No Harrison tax money for this and in fact, with growth of economics downtown, our taxes could come down.
I am also in favor of development on the Oakdale "Swamps." Movie theater is a good idea. Again, that will bring more people downtown. It's also a shame that the old theater on Harrison Ave just sits there. It is a classic location.
I will not be able to attend the meeting but I hope all of this gets discussed and moved on. Talk is talk, but actually doing something is different. I hope this new Mayor and group understand we want change.
PS. The administrator of this site should delete the spam comments in this article.
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I am all for commercial development in the downtown area. We need a facelift downtown much like West Harrison got on their main street. We also need parking. The only this I don’t understand is the MTA Project. I am at a disadvantage since I am not a business owner downtown but I can’t grasp the idea of building the MTA project until we have resolved the issues in the existing downtown area. We have many empty store fronts so how will the building of new stores with the MTA project going to help. Aren’t we just creating more empty store fronts? I am not for or against the MTA project I just don’t get it. It seems that I read an article about someone saying that most businesses are leaving the downtown are due to high rents. Maybe working with the landlords would help. I think if we can make it more palatable for a business to come to Harrison and stay this would not only benefit our community but also benefit the landlords. Also with the empty store fronts, why can’t we get some decoration or work with SUNY Purchase or Harrison Council for the Arts to get some artwork displayed instead of an empty store. I want to end by applauding the current Harrison administration for moving the downtown revitalization forward and getting this all in motion.