MILWAUKEE — Just outside Faisal Bhimani’s gas stations, crews continued their reconstruction of Howard Avenue in the Tippecanoe neighborhood.
Bhimani owns the BP and Citgo stations on both sides of Howard Avenue, near Clement Avenue.
On Tuesday, both of his entrances on Howard were blocked off due to the ongoing work.
Bhimani said there was a miscommunication with the city on how long one of the entrances would be closed.
A DPW representative said one of the entrances will be opening on Wednesday morning.
“I was told that this will be open in about an hour,” said Bhimani. “I left and came back, and there’s a big hole, Grand Canyon size. And when I talked to them about it, I called them, and they called me back, saying that the plan was changed.”
It’s an example of why he and other owners in the area are frustrated at the way the city is handling the project.
Bhimani said he’s lost 70% of his business since the start of the project. From the end of July until now, he said he’s been losing 2,100 gallons per day at his BP station due to the closures and construction.
“The summer is when we make our money for them to hold off the winter, and if the summer is gone... I'm not sure how anyone will be able to survive that,” said Bhimani.
Watch: Business owners frustrated over handling of Howard Ave. reconstruction project
The city is reconstructing Howard Avenue between S. 6th St. and Clement Avenue, about 1.3 miles. Bike lanes are also being added in both directions of the corridor.
PROJECT DETAILS: Howard Avenue (milwaukee.gov)
It’s an over $8 million project that started back in spring.
While the work is much needed, several other business owners voiced their concerns to TMJ4 News about how the construction work is impacting them.
Dominik Czerwinski owns Scotty’s Bar & Pizza off Clement Ave. He told us his customers have had trouble accessing his business since the project started.
“The way they're closing it down, people can't get to me, so it makes it really difficult,” said Czerwinski.
Gunvant Patel has owned Kainth Beer & Liquor for about a year and a half. He said his business was down over 30% and may be in jeopardy.
“It’s hard right now because the customers do not come in, and that’s a problem,” said Patel.
TMJ4 News spoke with a DPW representative and brought them the owner's concerns.
Support for business signage has been placed on Howard Avenue for the different businesses impacted. The representative also said they’ve been in constant contact with the business owners about project updates and changes.
“We cannot operate at this level,” said Bhimani. “Get absolutely no help other than some of the emails I got saying that we're sorry for your hardship. Those words aren't going to pay the bills.”
Bhimani and others would like to see more visibility from representatives at the construction site. They’d also like to learn from the city if any type of grant program is available for them.
The DPW representative told TMJ4 News there’s nothing financially they can do to help.
The waiting game may be too much for some of these businesses.
“I get it that all that business will be back once the construction is over, but 7-8-9 months of construction is where it's as hard for the small businesses to survive,” said Bhimani.
He and others are now evaluating their future off Howard Avenue.
“There's a lot of wonderful owners around here that do a lot for the community, and in my opinion, just don't deserve the way that we're kind of all going down,” said Czerwinski.
All of them thanked their regular customers for continuing to patronize their businesses during the construction.
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