Portsmouth’s pop-up rooftop venue moving ahead

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PORTSMOUTH, NH – A committee formed to help struggling downtown businesses, impacted by COVID-19 closures, voted unanimously to allocate $50,000, half its budget, to support a pop-up parking garage venue for the summer.

The Portsmouth Citizen Response Task Force on June 24 approved the funds with a stipulation that the $50,000 be used only for infrastructure and health and safety needs, as defined by the committee. Committee member Ruzz Grazier also stipulated, in a motion approved by the committee, that the $50,000 be allocated in halves and only released if matching funds are raised.

Grazier said the project will be for the summer of 2020 only and the purpose of the pop-up venue is as a mitigation of the economic impact faced by Portsmouth businesses and nonprofits in the midst of the pandemic. If fundraising goals are not met, he said, donations will be returned.

Plans call for the venue to be on the top floor of the underutilized Foundry parking garage. During Wednesday’s meeting, Grazier reported it will include three “restaurant sheds,” retail space and a “safe, socially-distant gathering space with limited capacity.” Arts, music and theater are expected to be part of the plan.

Committee member James Petersen said he met with a group of about 34 people the prior evening who had concerns about the plan. He said those included noise, parking in adjacent neighborhoods and the venue “becoming a permanent thing. He said there was “substantial empathy” among the group for what the business community is facing…”

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On the web: Popuprooftop.com

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