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Clayton Street Construction Has Downtown Businesses Struggling

Clayton Street businesses are struggling due to construction on new sidewalks and underground infrastructure. Credit: Kelsey Fredriksen

Every version of Athens looks a little different, depending on who you ask. When we picture what makes this city stand out, our imaginations may intersect on essential elements, such as the importance of our friends, our families and our versions of fun. When I think of Athens, I imagine downtown on a Friday night, filled to the brim with students and townies slipping into the bars, visitors lining up to hear local bands, the holiday lights hailing from the arching trees on Clayton Street.

That’s what I would like to imagine, but the reality is this: The lights are gone, the trees have been ripped out, and the construction is projected to last until next April of 2022.

The construction is temporary, of course. Downtown will be beautiful when the project is finished—at a later time than originally projected. City officials, the construction company and the workers sweating under the Georgia sun are all doing their jobs to make this happen. The business owners and the hundreds of employees who work downtown are all doing their jobs to keep their stores open.

It’s not enough. The unique patchwork of bars, stores, businesses and event spaces downtown is unraveling. Sales have been down since last spring, when the construction started. In several cases, sales are worse now than they were last year, during the height of COVID restrictions. While parking and sidewalks are blocked, as the construction inches its way along each street, customers barely trickle in. Many customers don’t even realize that businesses in the construction zones are still open, as personal advertising can only reach so far. Without customers and sales, the doors are struggling to stay open, and employees are getting slashed. 

If nothing changes, if there isn’t any relief or any common ground found, then all of our versions of Athens will cease to exist. Stores that have been open for over 20 years will close. Favorite late-night eats will close. Locally owned companies will close. The local tax base will move out until it is only the Targets and the other big box stores that can afford to stay. The landscape of Athens will change. 

It doesn’t have to. We sincerely understand how complicated and intricate the process of beautifying, updating and modernizing downtown is. We fully support these efforts, and we’re just as excited as everyone else to see the final results. The undertaking is huge; the construction and legal work are difficult. We know. So, we would like to reach one hand out to offer support, and the other for help.

Recently, we had a positive meeting with the mayor and the other city officials. We’re so thankful for the chance to have an audience with them about the construction. The meeting time overlapped with most of our businesses’ opening hours, so attendance was a challenge, but a list of the invited business who are requesting help are probably familiar places to you: Margo Metaphysical, Taqueria Tsunami, High Country, The Grill, Bear Hug Honey, Tena’s, Chick Music, Native America Gallery, Eddie’s Calzones, Aurum, Archer, Utage, Pitaya, Barbaritos, Insomnia Cookies, Arden’s Garden, Mellow Mushroom, Onward Reserve, the Cheeky Peach, Community, fab’rik, The Impeccable Pig, Cillies. The list goes on, and other stores wish to remain anonymous but are struggling, too. Now picture Athens without these businesses.

Several ideas for solutions to help us were on the table. One request is for the city to provide advertisement, via social media and elsewhere, that all businesses are, in fact, open. The second big request we had was free parking for customers. The city is considering this. 

There may be a way, especially during football season now and the upcoming holiday season, to help us pick our sales and work back up. The main difficulty of getting customers in has been parking. If the parking decks were free to all those with a receipt, we think this could certainly prop us up. Other support was discussed—stimulus grants, tax breaks, encouraging landlords to give rent breaks to business owners. The mayor’s office also discussed increasing the number of workers on the project and increasing their hours, which would certainly help as well.

The businesses of downtown Athens are doing their best to keep doors open and workers employed. With some help, I know we’ll make it. 

We have to make it, so our versions of Athens continue to thrive and live on for the next generation of students and townies and everyone in between. Many of our families have been raised here, our friends made here and our fun will be had here downtown if we can make it. 

We can. With support and help, it will be enough.

Fredriksen runs the blog for Margo Metaphysical.

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