Lead coal improvements killing businesses

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - Businesses in the area of the Lead and Coal Improvement Project are cutting down on hours and laying off employees, but it's not enough.

Now they've launched an online petition to get someone in the mayors office to notice they haven't had customers in months.

Yog Shrenstha owns the Y-Mart Gas Station he says because of the ongoing construction project his sales are at a stand still. "I have only 10 percent of business maybe," he said.

Before the bulldozers and mountains of dirt he was selling 2,000 gallons of gas a day. Now it's down to just 4,000 gallons in one month. He says his store shelves are empty because he can't afford to restock.

"Now I only have one part time staff. He opens only three hours in the morning, and me and my wife are working here for nothing.

Katie Calico owns The Talking Fountain an art gallery across the street from Shrenstha's gas station. Her business is suffering even more. "When the end of July came and the road closed, everything went really quite," said Shrenstha. "Since then we've had two customers."

That's two customers in the last four months. City officials say outdated water and gas lines are tieing up the project, and they understand the frustration.

"They're not seeing people on the ground as much as they want," Mark Motsko Albuquerque Municipal Development spokesman said. "We understand that, but we want to be able to be proactive." Motsko say the new lines are vital to a long lasting and up to code project.

The new lines should be installed in about three weeks. "We're working as quickly as we can," he explained. "After these two things are done, the gas company and the water authority, the crews will be out there and they'll be blowing and going."

Calico is concerned because the ongoing work leaves businesses blocked in through the holidays. She says sales will dwindle, but adds the trauma is forcing her to get creative. "Because we're not going to have a road for Christmas, we're really hoping that having a good really good functioning website so we can save Christmas."

She is also helping to circulate an online petition. Business consultant Eric Landin is in charge of the effort and says something must be done before multiple business have to shut their doors for good.

"It's an inconvenience at best to the people who live around here, but for the small businesses that depend upon this road it's worse than that, it's their life," Landin explained.

The city has put up signs trying to help vendors attract customers and offers them links on their Lead Coal Improvement Project website . The project is expected to be complete by the Spring of 2012.

Source: http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/local/central/lead-coal-improvements-killing-businesses

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