TROY — Residents in Troy can expect a detour on West Main Street by the town square.
According to a statement released on the city of Troy Government’s Facebook page on June 16, the chief building inspector and fire chief determined that the Tavern Building was unsafe.
Due to their finding, West Main Street between Plum and Cherry Streets is closed to pedestrian and vehicle traffic.
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News Center 7′s Taylor Robertson talked with the Executive Director of Troy Main Street, and she said that none of the businesses were told about the street closing, but collectively found out through Facebook on Saturday morning.
Karen Boone, who owns an event venue on Main Street, said, “I found out via Facebook after the fact.”
Boone said she thinks the construction out front of the business could be detrimental to them.
“This is a main state route. We depend on that for our business because there is a lot of traffic and so to see that closed down with no notice, it’s sad and disappointing,” Boone said.
Kennedy Coomes, Executive Director of Troy Main Street, a non-profit organization that focuses on the development of the city said businesses have already been impacted.
“Ever since the construction started, these businesses claimed to have been down 40% every single day. So, this has been months and months of building and at this point, it’s going to be deeply impacted,” Coomes said.
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She said it was because of limited access to the businesses.
“I can only attest to what we’ve heard and that’s because people are turning away from their business simply because of access,” Coomes said.
Boone said, “For people that have customers who are coming in to purchase things, it’s kind of a turn-off to try to get into a business when it’s difficult to get there.”
David works close to Main Street. He said, at this point, he’s fed up with the issues surrounding the Tavern Building now that it’s affecting local business.
“These are the integrity, these are the backbone of our cities, and making this parking shut down, I don’t understand it,” David said.
He wants to know why close the street now.
“The building has been free of debris and falling for three years,” David said. “You had 1000 people out here two weeks ago walking in front of this building for the Strawberry Festival. So, why now, and why wasn’t the farmers market canceled on Saturday?”
Robertson said she called the Troy Fire Department to see if the chief would talk with News Center 7 on the issue and he declined.
Judge Walls also declined to talk to News Center 7 about the issue.
Mayor Robin Oda and Troy’s City Manager also declined to comment.