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Business owners say project is costing them customers Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Pedestrians on Friday walk around the site where new sidewalks and tree planters will be installed along Central Avenue across from the Craterian Theater. By MELISSA MARTIN When Jennie Anderson rolls 475 pounds of paper on a dolly out to her van, she hopes she doesn't trip on a new tree planter the city placed outside her front doors. "The wheels on a handcart are only about this big and if they come up against a ridge or edge, it will stop me dead in my tracks," said the owner of Instaprint in downtown Medford. She is among several business owners concerned about the Medford Urban Renewal Agency's $1.3 million construction project near the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater on Central Avenue. Torn-up sidewalks and streets have driven away customers, retailers say, and they plan to ask the city to reimburse some of their operating expenses. "This whole thing has been a nightmare for business owners," Anderson said. "We're hanging on the best we can." Next door at American Hearing Aid Systems, Ron Primasing says one of his customers has been trying to bring his hearing aids in for a check but can't make it through the construction zone. "The city thinks we have back entrances and side doors, but most of us don't," said Primasing, who has operated his business for 17 years near the corner of Central and 8th. He's hoping the construction project is done before his open house scheduled for Nov. 26. "I've got it all set up and it's costing me thousands of dollars to put this on," Primasing said. Sidewalks will be paved with special slabs If you've been to Bermuda and walked on the sand-colored sidewalks, you'll know what's coming to Central Avenue. Four Pennsylvania bricklayers are paving the sidewalks of Medford with molded concrete slabs designed to last five times longer than traditional cement. It's the same kind of sidewalks this crew built in Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda, as well as in Boston, Philadelphia and Maryland. "This is our first time to do a project out West," said foreman Ian Hankee, 27, of East Penn Pavement Company of Slatington, Pa. Over a layer of sand and with the help of heavy equipment, the masons place 18 x 24-inch molded concrete "pavers" that each weigh 95 pounds. It may take nearly 10,000 to pave the Central Avenue stretch from Main to 10th streets. The pressed concrete withstands freezing temperatures and downpours, Hankee said. And when a utility company needs to cut into the sidewalk to repair a pipe or line, they will only have to lift out the concrete slab, said Eric Iversen, senior planner and project manager for Medford Urban Renewal Agency. "Poured sidewalks have to be cut, jackhammered out and replaced," Iversen said. "And the patching never matches. So after 25 years, you see all these cuts in the concrete." The Central Avenue project stretches three blocks, from Main to 10th Street and includes re-paving streets, putting in new storm drains, adding trees and lights, burying utilities, creating two parking lots with 200 spaces and building intersection "eyebrows," or extended concrete corners designed to slow traffic, said Eric Iverson, urban renewal's senior planner and project manager. As far as the tree outside of Instaprint, it can't be shifted away from the door because it was placed in a pattern with the lights to avoid car doors opening and banging into trunks and poles, he said. "We expanded the apron of the alley (next to Instaprint) so that it's possible to wheel the handcarts around and load the vehicles from the alley," Iversen said. "Alleys are there for loading." The trees are only one concern for Jim Hester, owner of U Clothing, 131 S. Central Ave. He says four months of backhoes, rollers and jackhammers in front of his shop have cost him $300 a day, a portion of which he hopes to try to collect from Medford Urban Renewal Agency. "I don't know if I'm going to make it," said Hester. "And Medford needs this kind of store. We are bringing these fashions to Medford, clothing you'd have to drive to Portland, San Francisco or Los Angeles for." At least one Central Avenue merchant said the construction has not disrupted business. Customers making an appointment to have their hair done can use the back door at All About Change if they don't want to climb over concrete frames in front, said owner Judy Creager. "I think the trees will be wonderful," the hair stylist said. "I keep in touch with Medford Urban Renewal about the project. I found out, for example, that they going to cut stone this weekend, so I decided not to dust until that part's over. "I think the whole thing is going to be gorgeous when it's done." Walking on gravel and stepping over boards was a minor inconvenience for Janette Moorman of Grants Pass. "You know it's just temporary," said Moorman, leaning on her husband's arm as she walked out of American Hearing Aids. "If it was going to be like this forever, it would not be good." Major construction will be done in two weeks, said LTM construction foreman Don Young. Landscaping, lights and poles will be done by late November or early December. He said business owners will like having new, brick-like walkways to replace the old crumbling sidewalks and the new storm drains will eliminate sidewalk puddles that used to collect after a hard rain. "(Business owners) have been understanding sometimes and worried other times," Young said. "When it's all finished, I think it will improve the value of the area. It will be a nicer place to walk around." But print shop owner Anderson has a piece of advice for the Medford Urban Renewal Agency: Keep businesses better informed. "The biggest problem with the project has been a lack of communication," said Anderson, placing printed flyers in a box that will soon weigh 95 pounds. "A lot of the information we received came after the fact, after construction was already started." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.