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Neighboring business is hazard, bar owner says
By jeanne starmack
campbell
A bar owner on Wilson Avenue says traffic from a neighboring business obstructs the road and is a hazard.
Kirk Miller, who owns He’s Not Here! at the corner of Seventh Street, brought his complaints about Iron City Wood Products traffic to the city council June 6.
Law Director Brian Macala met with Miller and Iron City representatives separately to mediate the dispute, he said Thursday.
Iron City Wood Products, which recycles and sells old pallets and brokers the sale of new pallets and shipping containers, is across the street from Miller’s bar.
“There’s trucks and tow motors on a state highway,” Miller said. Wilson Avenue also is state Route 289.
“You’re supposed to have flaggers,” but they don’t, he said.
“They’re tearing up the whole street. There’s dust all over the place. You’ve got a truck moving trailers around on a state highway,” he continued.
“The department of transportation says it’s up to Campbell or Campbell police,” he added. “I don’t want to see someone killed.”
“They almost hit my patrons,” he said, adding that a forklift almost hit his girlfriend while she was in his car.
Miller said the company is using unlicensed yard vehicles on the road, but Tina Yanssens, the company’s vice president, said that isn’t the case.
“There are no unlicensed vehicles,” she said Thursday.
Macala said he has asked Iron City representatives to consider others and not block traffic or pull up on sidewalks.
He said he also asked them not to allow unlicensed vehicles on the road.
“Geography is a little bit of a problem here. That’s why they’re moving,” he said.
The company is expanding to a Youngstown location soon because it is out of room.
“The dust and dirt — I can’t do much about that,” he said. “It’s an industrial area.”
He said he got assurances from the company that no unlicensed vehicles would be on the road and they would expedite trucks backing up from the road.
“I’ve asked the bar and police to monitor it,” he said. “The police can’t go down there every single time a truck is backing up,” he added.
Yanssens said the company understands there is a lot of traffic and is trying to alleviate it as much as possible.
“It’s not all Iron City traffic,” she added.