Huntley commits to uplifting all businesses in the Ward
West Street is one of the primary ways visitors get to downtown Annapolis, but throughout the year, a section of the road closes for a number of festivals and one-off events that some business owners in the area say are disruptive.
As the spring and summer months approach, when many of these gatherings take place, some business owners are voicing concerns that blocking traffic on the city’s main thoroughfare is hurting them by unintentionally restricting access.
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Jinny Amundson, co-owner of Old Fox Books & Coffeehouse and a member of the Maryland Avenue & State Circle Business Association, said that on slow days, like Wednesdays, the closures could attract more people downtown than normal. However, when they happen on more critical business days, issues arise. Things like First Sunday bring in outside vendors, which Amundson said creates competition for the brick-and-mortar businesses.
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Inner West closed the street and hosted vendors to participate in the city’s Midnight Madness event for the second time last year, when businesses stayed open late on several Thursdays in December. According to Amundson, some downtown businesses make up to a third of their yearly revenue on these days, and this year’s sales from it were down.
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“Our Midnight Madness events generate literally the same revenue as our entire month of January. It is critical for my operating expenses,” said Jenn Baker, owner of Welcome Home on State Circle. “Events are awesome ways to bring people in on a quiet day, but when it pulls people to a destination during a core shopping event, it hurts.”
Baker said that the Maryland Avenue & State Circle Business Association attempted to speak with Inner West, the city, and the Downtown Annapolis Partnership, but received no response. She said they had a meeting with then-state-Sen. Sarah Elfreth’s office to make wayfinding signage and marketing happen for the rest of the city during these events, but nothing came to fruition in time. Elfreth, a Democrat now serving in Congress, said that she is still working on making the signage happen. She noted there are rules for displays around the State House that need to be worked through.
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Ward 1 Alderman Harry Huntley, who represents downtown Annapolis, fell somewhere in the middle: Blocking the road, or as he puts it, opening up the road to pedestrians, is not an issue because there are other ways to get into downtown. He also said visitors can use the Calvert Street parking garage, which is free on evenings and weekends. However, Huntley did express some skepticism about the need to bring in outside vendors during events like Midnight Madness, which is meant to bolster area merchants.
“In terms of how we balance the needs and desires and focus on different parts of the city and different parts of downtown,” he said, “under me, there absolutely will not be any picking of favorites. We want to lift up all of them, and that’s going to require bringing everybody into the same room and working out tough compromises, but ones that are win-win.”
