This may be difficult to believe, but some chain e-mails actually do serve a purpose. Take, for instance, the e-mail survey that Belmont Shore Residents Association President Mike Ruehle has been compiling over the last few days.
Ruehle sent an e-mail to 230 Belmont Shore residents with a simple question: Do you support or oppose the idea of valet parking in front of Bono’s Restaurant on 2nd Street?
The results: 111 Belmont Shore residents responded, with 86 in opposition and 24 in support. One abstained.
“I think that the survey reflects an accurate sentiment of the community,” Ruehle said in a phone interview this morning. “I was surprised that so many people were in opposition to it. That’s why I do the surveys, so I know what the public wants.”
The proposal was presented to the Belmont Shore Business Association last week by Parking Commission chairman Kurt Schneiter. Ruehle says that this marks the fourth time Commissioner Schneiter has attempted to implement valet parking on 2nd Street in the past several years. The lot at nearby Farmers & Merchants Bank would be utilized for its twenty parking spaces.
According to this article in the Grunion Gazette, the issue is scheduled to be discussed during the May 14 Belmont Shore Parking and Business Improvement Area Advisory Commission meeting.
Ruehle assures that all responses came from Belmont Shore residents, and that none of the nine residents who live closest to the site voted in support. That’s a convincing statistic, though it’s fair to point out that the original e-mail sent out to residents offered two advantages to valet parking and five disadvantages. Still, Ruehle says he’s just presenting the opinion of the community.
“If you grab a slice of the public, that’s always a representation of the community,” he says.
By Ryan ZumMallen, Managing Editor
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