Main Street Business Owners Split on Filming Downtown

Late last year, the Tarrytown Board of Trustees passed new policies regulating filming in the Village.

The policies were meant to recoup Village permitting and policing costs and to give store owners more notice before a shoot begins in the business district. But those policies apparently didn't go far enough to address the core concerns of downtown business owners.

"That fact is it impacts me, it impacts my business," said Gregg Goldberg, owner of Goldberg's Hardware. "I don't want to be the bad guy, but maybe we should reevaluate that (allowing filming in the village)."

At a meeting on Wednesday, members of the Tarrytown Merchants Council had a chance to voice their objections to the latest round of filming in the Village. The movie , which took over a portion of Main Street at the YMCA last week, is currently being shot around the Rivertowns. It has wrapped up filming in Tarrytown, but still has shots occurring in Sleepy Hollow and Dobbs Ferry.

Last week's filming got under the skin of many merchants, especially Goldberg, who said that customers were being told they couldn't enter or leave his store during the shoot. He noted that all the parking in front of his store was taken as well.

The shoot took over the portion of Main Street between North Washington and Windle Park for the majority of the day. Vans full of grip gear were also parked down North Washington Street. However, the film crew only had rights to use eight spaces, four on each side of the road, for the day.

"It affected me and it impacted other people," Goldberg said. "But my main concern is that I have no say in this."

Last year's move to create more control over feature films came after some merchants protested the filming of , which settled in on Main Street and Neperan Road for the majority of January 2010.

Part of the policy change was to require that filming applications be submitted 21 days prior to filming to allow for adequate notice. The Village also increased filming fees to $1,500 for first day and $1000 for every additional day of filming.

The new rules were intended to keep business owners in the loop, but most only received 48-hours notice, or less, that Predisposed would be filming on Main Street.

"This breaks down everything we've done to create these guidelines," said Theresa McCarthy, who co-chairs the Merchants Council. "Now we're back at square one."

Mayor Drew Fixell and Village Administrator Michael Blau were on hand to answer questions floated by members of the Merchants Council about the recent shoot, and apologized that there was such short notice to businesses. The permit to shoot in Tarrytown had apparently been filed six weeks before the shoot began, but due to a snafu regarding where they would be shooting at the YMCA, it only became apparent they would use Main Street two days prior to the shoot.

Despite admitting to the mistake the meeting, the discussion quickly spiraled into a debate about the pros and cons of filming in the village. 

"You've tried, I don't think it's working and it needs to stop," said Mike Love of Coffee Labs Roasters.

"You can't make a blanket declaration that there is no benefit," Fixell said. "It is a double edged sword."

Fixell noted that while disruptions were an annoyance, filming in the village paid off in other ways such as publicity and attracting visitors. Some other merchants noted they had more business during filming spurts as well.

Others in the room suggested that new policies should be put in place before the next shoot, such as notification that a permit application has been submitted to the village, not just when an application has been approved. Others wanted to included a part-time staffer to monitor shoots for compliance. The staffer would be paid by the production company as part of their permit fee.

Some owners felt that filming would always be a bane to business, and that it would only pay off if monetary compensation was made to business owners. While compensating business owners didn't seem likely due to the complexity of quantifying business loss during filming, Blau noted that the Village could fine productions for not observing the regulations of their permit. Blau said it was up to the police department to make sure that permits were being followed to the letter.

While filming in the Village will likely continue, many business owners expressed their desire to see it end. Others were still open to having films in the village, as long as structural changes in the filming policy were made. 

"When people are stopped from coming into a store, that affects us," said Marlaina Bertolacci of Main Street Sweets. "I'm not saying no more films, It just needs to be done better."