November Meeting 11.16

November Meeting 11.16

Call to order

A meeting of The Park Rd Association  was held at Playhouse on Park on 11.16

CO-Presidents - Welcome / Urgent Business - Tracy Flater & John Paindiris

Town Reports:

Economic Development Coordinator Kristen Gorski and Lauren Siegel 

  • Focus shifting to business retention 

  • Many business visits in the center this past week, park rd sometime next month

  • Safety audit occurred on park rd 

  • Outdoor dining in town has been extended to 12/4

  • Iron Horse opening at 14 oakwood in former Pasta Kitchen space, will be utilizing both floors of the building and have outdoor patio space. . Will have pool tables and dart boards, as well as pub food such as pizza and wings. This will be the owners third location, with another in Simsbury. Open 1030-midnight. Signed a 20 year lease, so they will be here for a long time. Looking to open in April. Installing an elevator for accessibility. 


Town Manager - Rick Ledwith

  • Election was last Tuesday, council is remaining more or less the same

  • Barry Walter’s and Ben Winograd joining council

  • Dec 6 meeting to discuss safety improvements in town, takes place at the library 

  • Change takes time, town is doing everything they can as quickly as they can 

  • Received safe streets for all grant of 700k to set up cameras around town for safety purposes/to catch traffic violations 

  • Facade improvement program: pause due to  issues with competing demands for remaining 12 million, such as flood control. Applying for additional grants in hopes that we can solve these issues while still moving forward for facade

  • Wetlands hearing Nov 29

Police - Pete Kisela

  • Toy drive at holiday stroll 

  • Partnering with social workers at elementary schools to get donations to needy families 

  • Collecting until 12/18 or so at the PD

Chamber of Commerce - Christopher Conway

  • One year anniversary of RiverBend!! 

  • AJ Masthay Gallery show this past Saturday- huge success! 

  • Colorful Conversation on the entertainment industry today on zoom 12-130 

  • Business after hours tonight at Brookdale Chatfield

  • Once a month virtual connection, tomorrow 7:30-8:30 on zoom

  • Dec 1- chamber 101, onboarding new members 930-11 at town hall 

  • Holiday stroll 11/30


One Park- Nikita 

  • Nikita is property manager at One Park

  • Roughly 135 occupied apartments 

  • Construction wrapping up end of December 

  • Affordable program is going very well 

Arts commission

  • Comedy night at Weha Fit with comedian Darren Rivera

  • Looking to collaborate with River Bend Books for book signings, poetry readings, et

Playhouse on Park, Tracy Flater:

  • Pin up girls opens for previews  11.29!!!

  • Sweet musical featuring songs from the Andrews sisters and Beyoncé 

  • Bringing in local author Lisa Franco 

  • Industrial Musical lecture coming to Playhouse on Park 

  • Whiskey tasting in hartford at the rec tomorrow 

  • Playhouse is losing their storage space, seeking affordable storage space asap 

River Bend Books

  • Gives gift cards to local businesses to booksellers to explore the area, looking to do a giftcard swap with local businesses!




IRS Tax Credits and Deductions

  • To assist businesses with complying with the ADA, Section 44 of the IRS Code allows a tax credit for small businesses and Section 190 of the IRS Code allows a tax deduction for all businesses.

  • The tax credit is available to businesses that have total revenues of $1,000,000 or less in the previous tax year or 30 or fewer full-time employees. This credit can cover 50% of the eligible access expenditures in a year up to $10,250 (maximum credit of $5000). The tax credit can be used to offset the cost of undertaking barrier removal and alterations to improve accessibility; providing accessible formats such as Braille, large print and audio tape; making available a sign language interpreter or a reader for customers or employees, and for purchasing certain adaptive equipment.

  • The tax deduction is available to all businesses with a maximum deduction of $15,000 per year. The tax deduction can be claimed for expenses incurred in barrier removal and alterations.

  • To learn more about the tax credit and tax deduction provisions:

Download IRS Form 8826 for the tax credit for small businesses
Go to the Internal Revenue Service Web Site
Department of Justice ADA Information Line.
https://archive.ada.gov/taxcred.htm#:~:text=The%20tax%20credit%20can%20be,for%20purchasing%20certain%20adaptive%20equipment.


Next Meeting: December 21


Sincere apologies for the delay in publishing these notes!