Construction standstill frustrates 17th Ave. business owner

A 17th Avenue restaurateuris frustrated by the road work or lack thereof going on in the construction zone in front of his business.

The street is being torn block by blockas part of a $44-million overhaul of 17thAvenue that is expected to take about three years to complete.

Buttermilk Fine Waffles owner Sam Frileysays work on the road outside his business started in early September and was supposed to take a few weeks, but he hasn't seen crews at work on the torn-up street in days.

And the work on the is far from complete.

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"That road has been ripped up for about a month, but we've only seen people working on it for the first two weeks," he said.

Frileysaid the lack of progress in front of his business between Second and Fourth streets is making an already difficult situation even harder. Not only is his business suffering, the standstill is making it feel even worse.

"These businesses are extremely expensive to run," he said. "Restaurants run on a very small profit margin and the only thing we need right now is to see boots on the ground and to see this work pushing ahead."

3 weeks more weeks

The city says it might notalwayslook busy, but that doesn't mean work is being ignored.

Project managerLogan Tolsmasays there was a standstill while the city dealt with a utility issue but things are on track now.

"We are working hard to make sure that we can give the businesses what we can where we can and get in and out as quickly as possible," he said.

Tolsmasaid the construction in front of Buttermilk will last another3 weeks.

For Friley, he said staying afloat is already a challenge and the only thing that will get the restaurant through is getting their road back.

"If we're working weekends to try to make our businesses survive, the city needs to be working weekends and we don't see people working out there on weekends," he said.

"Everyone needs to play their part."

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