FROM THE PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY (Abarta, Inc.)
August 26, 2006
By SHAWN HARDIE Staff Writer
EGG HARBOR CITY - On June 30, the redevelopment of downtown's main thoroughfare, Philadelphia Avenue, began with trees being ripped out of the ground. Although the roots of the Bradford pear trees were causing cracks in the sidewalks, many residents who were unaware of the plans to revitalize the area were horrified.
When the work is completed this fall, there will be new sidewalks, new lampposts and gingko trees will line the street.
Welcome to the Philadelphia Avenue Experiment, a project that is causing division in the community.
While some are applauding the work, calling it necessary to return the city to its former glory days, others see it as nothing more than a pain that is costing businesses customers or making it difficult to frequent those businesses.
Monica Campbell, who works at Eric's Little Pub on the 100 block of Philadelphia Avenue, said this week that business at the bar has definitely dropped.
"There's nowhere to park because there are always trucks outside," said Campbell, a Pleasantville resident who grew up in the city. "Lots of our customers (also) walk (here) and they don't want to walk through dirt to get here."
Not far from Eric's, a worker on Friday seemed to be putting the final touches on one of the curbs on the west side of the street, while his supervisor, Frank Cwikla, looked on. Sidewalk work on that side of the street is nearing completion, although a cement workers' strike in early August delayed the work by a week.
Cwikla, a supervisor for Remington, Vernick and Walberg Engineers in Wildwood, made it clear that the strike was caused by the people who make the cement, not by those who put it down. Cwikla also said that he hasn't heard any complaints from any business owners and that all the businesses have been great.
The Cup Cake Cafe bakery opened its doors for business on Aug. 15 in the 200 block of Philadelphia Avenue. Seventeen-year-old Dina Butcher of Hammonton works in the store and says that the construction work, which started more than a month before the bakery opened, makes it difficult for senior citizens to enter the store.
"Everything is torn up," Butcher said. "How are elderly people supposed to climb over and get in here?"
While not exactly elderly, 60-year-old Beth Massey didn't let the construction work stop her. She and her daughter Stephanie Titherington went to the Cup Cake Cafe on Friday morning and each enjoyed a salad. Massey recalled having fun frequenting the businesses on the main street in the 1960s and 1970s and said that the Philadelphia Avenue project will help restore some prestige to the city.
"I think the people who run this town are trying to make things better," said the Hamburg Avenue resident. "They're trying to bring it back to where it used to be.
"The sidewalks may be a pain now, but when they're completed, they'll be good," Massey said. "So what if you have to walk a little further?"