Businesses complain about impact from construction
DOWNTOWN Something was amiss at Border Grill.
It was lunchtime, but the restaurant wasn’t packed as usual.
“We don’t know if it was the economy or the bulldozers outside,” Ann Marie Anderson, the manager of the southwestern-specializing restaurant, said. “The tourists who normally walk around were not coming in.”
Such has been the reported trend at a number of businesses along Second and Fourth streets since a beautification project commenced during the summer, which both store owners and Downtown regulars have bemoaned for the hardship on both drivers and pedestrians.
The estimated $8 million Second and Fourth Streets Streetscape Improvement Project will repair sidewalks, enhance lighting and improve walkability by installing curb extensions. The project is perhaps known most for the ficus tree fiasco which involved public outrage over the planned removal of 23 trees and relocation of seven others.
Construction work in front of a block of businesses on Fourth Street between Broadway and Santa Monica Boulevard intensified in recent weeks when crews began boxing in several of the ficus trees slated for relocation to the Palisades Garden Walk behind the RAND Corp. A protective fence that nearly backed up to some of the business entrances was erected during this time. The work has since moved up one block and a sense of normalcy has returned to these stores.
Businesses like Border Grill reported, at least anecdotally, a decline in customers during that time.
“When you barricade the sidewalk, people are not going to want to walk through,” Anderson said.
She added that customers complained about the sound from the jackhammers and the difficulty in getting to the parking garages.
Crossroads Trading Company, where customers can buy and sell clothes, reported similar problems as a result of the construction.
Manager Christie Cook said many of the customers come bearing bags, sometimes boxes, of clothes and therefore try to park in front of the store. The construction the past several weeks took out a number of spaces along Fourth Street, forcing drivers to turn to the parking garages.
“When all of these spaces were taken out, it created an inconvenience for our customers,” Cook said.
City officials estimate that the most disruptive phase of construction will end by the holiday season, which draws a heavy amount of vehicular and foot traffic to the area. The remaining electrical work will continue into the next year and should wrap up in the first quarter. Crews are in the process of planting the replacement ginkgo biloba trees.
Much of the heavy work involved digging up the tree wells, boring underground conduits and laying the foundation for the street lights, according to Greg de Vinck, a civil engineer for City Hall.
The recent construction in which the ficus trees were boxed was scheduled to take place during the morning since many of the restaurants don’t open until lunch, de Vinck said.
Before a project begins, City Hall sends out a notification to businesses that construction could be disruptive. The management company that handles the project is also required to keep in touch with the businesses.
“We do put a pretty strong effort into mitigating the impact,” de Vinck.
Emma Kozlowski, who runs On the Path, an art gallery on Second Street, said she has noticed a decline in customers scheduling appointments.But her biggest gripe is with the impact on her respiratory system, saying she has developed asthma since the construction began.
“We can’t open our gallery,”she said.“If the door opens, the dust comes in.”
Some of the complaints involve the impact on traffic as the construction has forced closure of some lanes, eliminating the option for drivers to make left turns into the parking garages. The problem has been exacerbated as the project is simultaneously going on with the redevelopment of Santa Monica Place.
“It made me late for work,” Rickey Smith, who works in Santa Monica as a video photographer, said on Friday. “All I could think of is ‘I’m late for this frickin’ shot.’”
But not everyone has taken issue with the construction.
Chanelle Redman,the manager of Exhale,a spa and yoga studio on Second Street, said that the trouble with parking and traffic is nothing new.
“At the beginning of the summer it was noisy because they were drilling,” she said. “But lately, it’s been fine.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 20, 2008. Read the original PDF.