As the Second Ave. Subway construction has dragged on throughout the past three and a half years, life along the avenue has been something less than pleasant. Construction lights and noise fill the air at all hours of the day, and fenced off sidewalks and roads have become the norm. Under the aegis of lazy landlords, poorly-maintained residential buildings have suffered structural damage while businesses have suffered tremendously.
Time and again, the media coverage has returned to the price businesses have paid as subway construction has enveloped the neighborhood. Early on, merchants along the avenue complained of reduced foot traffic and the inconveniences from and concession to construction had on their bottom lines. For instance, 13 restaurants lost significant revenue when they could not install outdoor cafes over the summer months, and as recently as August, real estate trade The Real Deal noted how business at some stores was down by as much as 40 percent. It’s not a good time to be a store-owner above the future subway route.
In today’s Times, Joseph Berger covers the tried-and-true economic ground along Second Ave. He spoke with over 20 merchants, and they all said the same thing: It’s worse than they expected. By Berger’s count, over 30 businesses have closed since 2007, and those that are still open say construction has led to drop-offs in business by 25-50 percent. “Second Avenue has become a place that shoppers avoid,” Manhattan Chamber of Commerce Chairman Jeffrey Bernstein said. “People don’t want to come. It’s difficult to maneuver.”
Berger’s piece is largely anecdotal, but he hits upon the concerns that neighborhood business owners have. Some of them are more founded than others. For instance, restaurants and other service-based stores that rely on foot traffic have suffered legitimate declines in business during the construction. Some, though, complain that construction has limited the ability of their suburban costumers to drive into the city — and illegally double park — while picking up speciality items such as bratwurst or non-speciality items such as a quick lunch.
Therein lies the rub. The city is building the Second Ave. subway to improve transit access to the eastern parts of the East Side. I find hard to be too sympathetic to those businesses bemoaning a lack of on-street space for customers who owners willing admit double-park while shopping.
Berger too focuses on the he said/she said aspect of the fight between business, the MTA and city and state politicians. Says The Times scribe:
Many say they were misled at meetings about the damage construction would wreak. “I think they painted a picture at these meetings, and then they delivered something else,” said Joe Pecora, an owner of Delizia 92 pizzeria and restaurant at 92nd Street, who formed the Second Avenue Business Association two years ago because of the construction’s impact.
Officials say they have honored commitments they made to minimize disruption and mitigate noise and dust. Lois Tendler, a vice president for government and community relations at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said the agency had met regularly with merchants and had signs on its Web site and at Lexington Avenue subway stations urging people to “Shop Second Avenue.”
Shopkeepers say they need financial help and compensation. But an effort to provide tax relief and grants was vetoed last year by Gov. David A. Paterson. “We have been incredibly responsive to every feasible request,” Ms. Tendler said. “Where we part company with shop owners is that we do not have the ability to pay them for the lost income. We use public money, and we do not know of any government entity that pays for lost business.”
The kicker to Berger’s story reveals another dichotomy along Second Ave. He tells the story of Young Yoo, a then-60-year-old widow who opened up a small restaurant right near the Launch Box at Second Ave. She invested heavily in this space ” a few months before ground was broken for the subway in front of her store” and today is nearly broke. She’s trying to wait out a year before her Social Security benefits kick in, and her son sounds defeated. “Instead of being a prosperous restaurateur, she’ll end up being a penniless person waiting for a check,” Peter Yoo said. “That’s what Second Avenue did to her. It created a pauper.”
I feel for Mrs. Yoo. She wanted to open a business personal to her before retiring, but the subway construction interfered. Yet, at the same time, I have to wonder why Mrs. Yoo chose that spot a few months before ground-breaking. By late 2006, it was clear that the MTA would soon begin work on the Second Ave. subway, but after decades of false starts and canceled projects, business owners and Second Ave. residents refused to believe work would happen. Should the city be forced to foot the bill for these risky decisions? Some might even call it folly.
In six years, business owners will be clamoring for Second Ave. space, and property values will climb precipitously. The construction will fade like a bad dream, and merchants will enjoy renewed prosperity along Second Ave. For now, though, they’ll suffer. Even as the state and city try to help, even as the MTA tries to minimize the disruption, these businesses are paying the costs of progress.
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