TRUMBULL COUNTY Route 422 work puts damper on Girard businesses

A short inconvenience will bring 'long-term benefits,' one owner said.
& lt;a href=mailto:yovich@vindy.com & gt;By TIM YOVICH & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- Some downtown business owners say they are experiencing significant cuts in profits as the widening of State Street goes along.
The nearly $5 million construction project to turn State (U.S. Route 422) into a four-lane highway began last year and is scheduled for completion in the fall. The work area extends from Interstate 80 north to Weathersfield Township.
Angie Migliozzi, owner of Little Peppino's restaurant since 1982 along North State, said she has lost 50 percent of her business.
"It hurts. It hurts bad," Migliozzi said of her restaurant that she is "hoping and praying" will be able to remain open.
"You don't know if they'll be coming back," she commented about her customers.
Optimism
Despite the loss in business, Migliozzi said the project "will benefit the entire community."
Across the street from Little Peppino's, Kim Snyder, owner of Perry's Flowers, says she too has lost about 50 percent of her business.
Snyder and store manager Carol Kuntz blame the construction work, removal of the business sign by workers and the loss of the traffic light near their store at State and Smithsonian Avenue for the decline.
Their customers, they said, are older and were able to pull their cars into the shop parking lot. Without the signal, they asserted, traffic has generally speeded up, their customers get confused and don't pull in.
Snyder and Kuntz also expressed concern because the sidewalk will be moved closer to their front door, causing a possible safety hazard because the sidewalk will abut the curb. A child might run out the front door, across the sidewalk and into traffic, they speculated.
Construction has closed ARM Cigar and Pipes on North State for the past 21/2 weeks because of the construction. "It just killed our business," commented owner Tony Canterino. He said the problem is the difficulty for customers to get in and out of his parking lot.
Canterino said he hopes his customers will return.
Because the roadway will be nearer the front of his business, the project resulted in new concrete stairs across the front of his store. Despite the halt in business, Canterino said he looks forward to the way the city will look when construction is complete.
Paul Frankford, owner of Frankford Bicycle Inc., has put an addition onto his North State store and remodeled the interior. As part of the upgrade to his business, the closer proximity of the building to the sidewalk was taken in to consideration.
Frankford said his customer traffic has slowed, but he will be "out of the woods" in three to four weeks as construction moves along.
"Overall, we're excited about the whole project," Frankford noted. "It's a short-term inconvenience for long-term benefits."
Mayor James J. Melfi said there is "going to be an inconvenience this year," adding that it's difficult to retrofit road widening with 75-year-old buildings. "I would recommend patience," the mayor said as he called attention to the new road, curbing, sidewalks and catch basins that will result.
In 2006, another phase of the project will extend from I-80 south to the Youngstown city limits.
& lt;a href=mailto:yovich@vindy.com & gt;yovich@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;