4 days ago
Santa Fe businesses' frustrations grow as road project continues
SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – More than a year into a road rebuild through a Santa Fe tourism hot spot, the city is getting an earful because of new construction twists that keeps affecting dozens of businesses' bottom line.
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The Concrete Jungle smoke shop has spent 30 years on Guadalupe Street in Santa Fe. 'We're struggling just to make ends meet, I don't even see how we're gonna weather this storm,' said Rebecca Storm, the owner of the shop. But Garcia said the last year dealing with a road rebuild project has been one of the toughest. 'Now sales are down 40 percent, we've never ever experienced that in our history,' said Garcia.
'Had we known that is gonna be a two-year-plus project with no end in sight, we might of made additional moves to do something else. While the project is supposed to be done by August, crews just pushed back work again this week after finding a hidden gas line.
Santa Fe city leaders heard some of the frustration at a meeting with businesses this week. 'We've been taking those ideas back, trying to figure out the logistics of how do we make this work,' said Johanna Nelson, Economic Development director for the City of Santa Fe.
Some businesses said they want money for the losses the construction has caused, while others said they want crews to work later into the night past 7 p.m.
The city said it's working on business boosting initiatives. 'We've got a promotional campaign, so if we're out hitting the streets interviewing businesses putting that on social media. We're working with the chamber of commerce, right, to explore ways to we can further promote and support the businesses,' said Nelson.
She added they're also considering a possible benefit concert, even an organized bike ride through Guadalupe Street. 'It's going to be a great thing, we just gotta hang in there and let's figure out what we can do in the meantime,' said Nelson.
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