There is a lot in the below comment to the Phoenix that I will leave to the commenter. What I would say is that traffic in the downtown is pitiful with the exception of weekend nights. I would say it is growing pains but it really isn't. We have had this plan for years now and it is barely working for us. There is zero daytime traffic and that is a problem for some of these businesses. We should be addressing that problem instead of the parking issue.

As for the sense of entitlement, I agree 100%. I said before that there is a disconnect between the businesses and the public. That is a two way street. We cater to people from the outside. Do you think First Friday is a celebration for residents of the Borough? Of course not. It is a marketing tool for the region as is Blob Fest and the like. Likewise, residents don't look to the downtown to spend their money. Why go to Bridge St. when the mall can provide more shopping in a sheltered environment. Besides, there is no store on Bridge that provides everyday clothes, shoes, affordable food, everyday household items . . . . This could be because there are no corporate stores or it could be that the model we are building discourages them.

I go downtown a couple of times every week. I never spend any money on anything other than food. Mostly because there is nothing useful being sold there (and I am scared of Heidi Sue). Coffee and Cookies as well as pretzels and ice cream get my money. Iron Hill gets some also. The rest goes outside the Borough. How many others are doing the same? How much wasted disposable income is being shipped out of town while we dump tax money and all our civic focus into building up Bridge St? I have no trouble financially supporting the downtown businesses with my disposable income but as for tax dollars, not so much.