First Fridays In Beacon Are On - Paving Looking Great - Ready For Paint & Shoppers

Just in time for First Friday in Beacon, the newly paved Main Street is an inviting open road to travel down. Striping happens next, and then the blacktop is ready for a hot summer.

First Fridays in Beacon started last month, and are for destination shopping, to encourage people to linger longer out on Main Street on a Friday night in Beacon, which can sometimes be a little quiet as people duck into restaurants and order take-out for an easy night before busy Saturdays and Sundays.

Said Toni Hacker, owner of Beacon Mercantile and maker of perfumes, lip glosses, candles and more: “First Friday was GREAT…lots of fun, very busy, and lots of locals saying how happy they are that First Friday is now a thing and a night to get out and see what’s new on Main Street.”

First Fridays run the entire length of Main Street, from the mountain to the river. Then tune in for Second Saturday, which is officially back! BeaconArts made their announcement this week. More to come on that.

Happy Shopping! Use A Little Beacon Blog’s Shopping Guide to get the digits and lowdown on all of the shops in Beacon.

Everyone Pitching In For Pretty Paving

All departments on deck for Beacon’s paving project. The Highway Department, Water Department, Police Department, and stores worked together to get it done. Some stores like Key Food Beacon and All You Knead Bakery allowed Highway Department trucks to park in their driveways while paving trucks were doing their things.

It's OK To Park On Main Street This Weekend! Check The Blue Painter's Tape For Details

Mayor Kyriacou robo-called the community today (Friday) to let everyone know that the milling on Main Street is complete, and that parking on Main Street is open until Monday, May 2, 2022, which is when the paving phase will start. At that point, parking on Main Street will be prohibited 24 hrs/day until Thursday, May 5, 2022. That pavement has got to dry.

For people not refreshing their City of Beacon website pages who are driving in the wild, relying on the bright orange No Parking signs on the lampposts, drivers will now see - on some of the signs - a new date written on blue painters tape covering the original. For those folks not on the robo-call signup (you can sign up here!) and who are visitors, they will be relying on the bright orange No Parking signs only. From afar, it looks intimidating, but pull over and squint to learn that you can park this weekend.

During the milling period, several businesses expressed appreciation for the enormous milling and paving project that was delayed from last fall. But several businesses did notice a dramatic drop in customers who avoided Main Street for the rough road and no parking.

Even after the Mayor’s robo-call and the limited amount No Parking signs that have been taped over, people from out of town are confused on where to park. While seated in one establishment, this blogger observed a couple asking the management about if they could park on Main Street today (Friday), and a very confusing conversation ensued, resulting in the couple being told they could not park. Bright orange signs that say No Parking are hard to not obey.

Many citizens expressed how quiet the street was when hardly any cars were driving on it (see video here) even though they could. Cars were generally avoiding Main Street for the no parking limitation, and the ripped up asphalt under their tires.

Today into this weekend, parking is back until Monday.

Readers have already written in to ask if parklets are possible once Main Street is paved. So far there has been no more discussion about parklets, but every day is different!

Dummy Light Down; Gets A Dunce Cap After Being Hit During Milling. Was Historic Landmark Protected During Milling?

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Dummy light knocked off by a City of Beacon vehicle during milling on Main Street.
Photo Credit: Anonymous Citizen Reporter

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Beacon’s Dummy Light with orange cones placed on top of and beside it while the City of Beacon works to restore it.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

This week, one of Beacon’s most iconic landmarks located at the intersection of Main Street and East Main Street - the Dummy Light - was knocked off its pedestal by a City of Beacon vehicle. As reported by 97.7 The Wolf, citing RoadsideAmerica: "Only three of these old, dangerous, middle-of-an-intersection traffic lights are still standing." A reporter at 101.5 WPDH recently discovered Beacon’s Dummy Light, which does have a devoted fan base like a website.

Based on the photo above showing the light split on the ground, it does not appear that protection was placed around this endangered species of a light to aid in prevention of large trucks milling around it.

Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White said on the City’s Facebook page. “As many of you know, the City has been milling Main Street the past two days in preparation for repaving next week. Yesterday afternoon, one of our vehicles accidentally backed into the ‘dummy light’ at Main and East Main Streets. Fortunately, the base is intact and undamaged, and the light (which was not original...it was a replacement of the original with LED bulbs) will be replaced so that it matches as closely as possible the dummy light that was damaged.”

In his post, the City used a photo of the Dummy Light erected, before it was hit. As of that post and now, the light remains off the base.

Immediately after the Dummy Light was hit, more than one reader reached out to ALBB to inquire how to fundraise to get the Dummy Light restored. Beacon’s City Administrator, Chris implied that the City has started the restoration project.

From other articles, it looks like City Administrator Chris was whipping around different media threads trying to calm everyone after the light hit the ground, breaking into several pieces. As reported by 97.7 The Wolf, City Administrator Chris commented in a thread: “The City is not trying to remove this light: it was damaged during the milling of Main Street. Please take a deep breathe, everyone. This was an accident, and our driver feels terribly about it.”

After 97.7 reached out to him for further comment, he responded: “The dummy light will return!”

Citizen Reporter and Photographer Jean Noack took one of the photos used by 97.7, and questioned: “The mayor could not be reached immediately for comment on the actions of the city employee that resulted in the damage.”

Damage caused to buildings and structures by City owned vehicles does happen, and the resulting actions toward those employees is unknown, in terms of what is viewed as an accident and dismissed, and what is viewed as an accident resulting in disciplinary charges assigned to the driving employee, assuming that every employees feels terribly about an accident.

Disciplinary actions are difficult to track in the City of Beacon, with the exception of one case that has been a set of charges resulting in aggressive disciplines. Hopefully the current City Administrator is weighing these charges and accidents equally. Not knowing who the driver was, ALBB’s opinion is that no dicipline results in this accident, and that simluar consideration be given to everyone in all City of Beacon departments.

A Little Beacon Blog will file a FOIL to try to get a list of other accidents by city employees, and which resulted in discipline, to see if fair treatment happened, or if disciplines were pursued aggressively toward targeted individuals.

What cannot FOIL is accidents that were not as public and were not reported at all by supervising staff.

Main Street Not Getting Paved Despite Early Pulling Of Parklets From Restaurants

Last year in the Fall, diners at restaurants were eating in the newfangled “parklets,” which were the borders of bright orange Jersey barriers outside of restaurants. These barriers created a safe-ish space for people to eat outside of restaurants in parking spaces, thereby adding seating to a restaurant and an opportunity for restaurants to earn more money during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a virus passed primarily through the air, making outside spaces the safest. Last year, restaurants were getting crafty with what kind of heating units they were going to provide their patrons.

This year, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White pulled the parklets in late September, citing scheduled milling and paving that was to be done on Main Street. Indeed, Beacon has been investing in infrastructure such as paved roads and seeking grants for new sidewalks for a number of years. Restaurant owners were already fearful of when the parklets were going to disappear, while some members of the community were bothered by the parklets for beauty reasons, and fear of car accidents, due to Beacon’s increasing reputation for speeding down Main Street, and any street around town.

Announced at the 11/1/2021 City Council Meeting, Main Street will indeed not get paved this year after all. City Administrator Chris stated: “The planned milling and paving of Main Street has been moved to next Spring. Because of all of the rain we have had recently, the contractors who are lined up to do the the milling and paving can't give us dates until late November, and then we run into the problem of getting into cold weather, in which the new striping won't set. Rather than rush it and not have the best job done, we will do April or early May.”

While the City Administrator said that the bump out project will be completed at South Avenue and Wolcott, it seems as though new cross-walk painting will not happen for the new location of bump-outs, which are the new side-walk extensions presumably for more accessible wheelchair use and pedestrian crossing. Currently, some of the new bump-out extensions do not match up with old cross-walks.

Some side-streets, such as South Chestnut Street, have been newly paved, with new bump-outs added. Several new bright yellow cross-walk signs have been added along Main Street as well, aiding in visual signals drivers get when zooming down the road.

Road Closures In Beacon Start Now For Milling And Paving

Roads in various parts of Beacon will be closed for milling and paving. The City of Beacon has posted a road closure schedule that shows dates from September 30, 2021 - October 6, 2021. Families with children at South Avenue Elementary received a phone call today from new Principal Daniel Glenn that parents should be aware of the road closure, as it is a main route for car drop-offs and “walkers” (aka kids who walk or bike to school).

A screenshot of the schedule has been published below:

Screenshot of the City of Beacon’s posted road closures for milling and paving.