Published: October 16, 2009 10:38 am      

Powell: Mercer St. loitering blocks business

PRINCETON — A downtown businesswoman announced Tuesday night that a problem has parked outside her Mercer Street store.

Total Health & Healing owner Nancy Powell addressed Princeton City Council, asking for the panel’s help in regulating parking and loitering that hampers the flow of traffic into her business and occasionally frightens her clients.

“I started my business six years ago and, even then, and we had a problem with parking. A business two doors down from me, which has since moved next door, has taken up six to 10 parking spaces on the street,” Powell said. “I’m coming to you to hopefully find a way to deal with this problem. I’d appreciate it if you could do something.”

Powell, who runs the store at 947 Mercer St., referred to Son of a Gun Tattoo Parlor, which has apparently become a hang-out for employees’ friends and patrons and typically has several people lingering outside at nearly any time. Powell said she had contacted the parlor’s owners but had not been able to resolve either the parking or loitering problem along the stretch of Mercer Street clearly marked only for two-hour parking.

“My hours are 12 (p.m.) until closing (5 p.m.). The cars never move, and the people gathering out front intimidate my customers. I had a person dance in front of my door today trying to intimidate me. I don’t park out front, and I don’t allow my staff to park out front,” she said.

Police Chief W.L. Harman said there’s no ordinance prohibiting the tattoo parlor employees or visitors from standing in the breezeway of the parlor, but they may not block the sidewalk in front of a business.

He said several businesses had contacted Princeton Police Department with similar complaints, and that he would speak with the parlor operators.

Because parking on Mercer Street is public, unless it’s designated for handicapped motorists, city attorney Paul Cassell said city council could not limit the number of spaces any business’s patrons use.

He added, “We aren’t authorized to designate parking spots. What we can do is emphasize stricter enforcement of two-hour parking. They don’t have a right to harass your customers.”

— Contact Jeff Harvey at jharvey1@frontiernet.net