Mars borough councilman explains reasoning behind controversial event ordinance proposal
MARS — In front of a packed house of concerned residents and business owners, borough council and other officials sought to mend fences with the public at a council meeting on Monday night, March 4.
Monday’s meeting was the first since word of a “business impact fund” proposed by councilman Brad Price was made public. Among other functions, the fund would compensate downtown business owners whenever streets are closed to accommodate events.
Several Mars business owners reacted negatively, fearing the proposal would have a chilling effect on events in the borough if it were to go through. These events — which include Mars New Year, Applefest, the Rumble car show, and Light-up Night — are some of the biggest moneymakers for these businesses.
G. Michael Fleming, president of borough council, said discussions regarding how to handle major events in Mars had been going on for close to two years, as the average event had grown from attracting hundreds of attendees to thousands.
“The primary point ... was that we should make consideration for any and all businesses within the downtown area, as we routinely close the streets or approve events to take place, and make sure that everybody’s being included,” Fleming said. “Our target is to implement some systematic procedure to this whole process for 2025.”
Price, who also runs the Mars Brew House coffee shop, said he was not against the idea of holding events in the borough, and would not accept money from the business impact fund if it were to go through.
"I benefit from all the events financially. My sales from Applefest alone are five times my next busiest day,“ Price said. ”But when I sit up here, I have to remove my businessman hat and put on my councilman hat. I've got to make sure that all the businesses are being protected and all the residents are being protected.“
Price reasoned that not all businesses benefit equally from having major events pass by their door.
"Obviously, the food and beverage businesses do well during these events,“ Price said. ”But we have a lot of non-food and beverage businesses as well. And in addition to that, we have 33 households. So we have to take their wishes into consideration as well.”
As he had during the meeting on Feb. 19, Price supported his argument by mentioning the late Ray Powers, owner of the now-defunct Mars Foodland grocery store.
“He came to this council to explain how closing his family-owned grocery store for just one busy Saturday during the month of October to celebrate Applefest resulted in eliminating all of his profits for the entire month,” Price said. “Ray was a very polite gentleman who never asked this council for anything. When a man of Ray’s integrity sits before this council to express a concern, he has my full and undivided attention.”
One of the business owners who showed up on Monday night was John Podolak, owner of After Hours Tattoo Studio. At the council meeting on Feb. 19, Podolak received permission from the council to bring his popular Rumble car show back to Mars in July, after hosting it in Saxonburg last year.
“We were in Saxonburg because it was starting to become a problem here,” Podolak said. “I'd love to have the show here. But if it’s a problem here, I’m done. I've spent tons of money out of my pocket every year.”
Fleming said council has learned some lessons from the controversy.
“I think one of the things we've learned through this exercise is ... even the businesses that don't benefit, that may decide to close (for events) because of the confusion and the difficulty of operations, are OK with it,” Fleming said. “They would rather do that than see the events not take place.”
No action was taken on the ordinance Monday. However, borough council did approve a resolution to allow street closures for certain events in 2024.
