City won't respond yet to request for reimbursement downtown
2009-09-23 / Front Page
Petition for help with lost revenue will be reviewed by attorney
By BRENDA BROWN
knhedit@kilgorenewsherald.com
Downtown businessmen won’t get a “factual response” for at least another two weeks from the city council regarding their petition for restitution for alleged revenue losses due to construction.
After presentations from three men for and against the proposal, the council referred the matter to city attorney Rob Schleier for consideration and said they would comment at the next regular meeting, which will be Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Pastor Doyle Turner, owner of The Dove’s Kitchen on East Main, presented the petition with 21 signatures to the council Tuesday night. The petitions requests $1,000 payments per month per business that is affected by the Main Street renovation project.
“We’re not opposed to city beautification whatsoever, but we are opposed to the way some of the work has been done,” Turner said.
“We were told they would do one section at a time, however it hasn’t been done like that. If that plan had been followed, this petition would not exist,” he said.
He said the downtown businesses had endured “all kinds of hardships,” including restricted parking and inadequate walkways across construction areas.
“We knew there would be sacrifices downtown, but we shouldn’t have to suffer all of the loss,” Turner said.
Tom Brown, an attorney whose office is on North Kilgore Street and a board member of Kilgore Historical Preservation Foundation, said KHPF members passed a resolution on Monday night supporting the downtown renovations.
As a businessman whose office is in the construction zone, Brown said he sympathizes with merchants but between the recession and the construction, he wasn’t sure how the council could begin to calculate any particular business’s losses.
“All construction is a pain and an inconvenience,” Brown noted, but he said when the work is done, downtown businesses will benefit.
James Campbell, owner of Pat Anderson Furniture, said he is not seeking restitution but he is upset regarding blocked parking and the contractor’s habit of storing materials and equipment in parking areas, which are already at a premium.
He said the council should “make these guys (the contractor) do what they were supposed to do.”
At the end of the meeting, the council advised Jeff Howell, city manager, to have a representative from the construction company, TCMC Commercial of Tyler, give a report about the work.
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