Lost in Laconia
The Winnipesaukee Pier has been for sale for something like ten years. Ten years ago, it had a price of five million dollars. It seems like the big problem with a business location on the Weirs waterfront is the short business season which is just May 30 to September 5, and that's pretty much the whole season.
For the rest of the year from September 5 to May 30, it's a no-go. The City of Laconia even covers up all the parking meters along the boardwalk with canvas covers because the city is embarrassed to collect any money down there for parking. Now, that is unusual, but Weirs Beach is a very unusual place considering its' beautiful waterfront location. Compare the Meredith waterfront with its' four year- round hotels, town docks, and waterfront walkway to the Weirs and you see two waterfront commercial locations with very different results; one is a big year-round success, and one is a big year-round failure. Somehow, the Weirs waterfront boardwalk area managed to get itself lost in Laconia.
Will the Weirs commercial waterfront area ever get renewed into a viable year-round business venue? Even the Weirs Beach branch of the U.S. Post Office got closed due to lack of business! And I believe that the same happened to the nearby Dunkin Donuts store, too. That's pretty unusual when a post office and a Dunkin cannot succeed!
Maybe the City of Laconia should get themselves some reverse parking meters just for the Weirs: Park there and the meter gives you 25-cents for every 15-minutes that you stay there!
