Running a small business is hard enough without finding out on a Sunday afternoon that the street outside your front door will be closed the next morning.
That is essentially what happened to several businesses along Amarillo’s historic Sixth Avenue this week. Signs posted Sunday notified businesses that the street would be closed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday for road maintenance. By Tuesday afternoon, traffic appeared to be moving again, with signs warning drivers about loose gravel.
Road maintenance is necessary. Few people would argue that Amarillo should simply allow its streets to deteriorate. But maintaining infrastructure and communicating with the businesses affected by that work are two separate responsibilities, and the city should have done a better job with the latter.
Aunt Eeks Books and Curiosities owner Angela Workman said she learned about the closure Sunday afternoon. That left virtually no time to prepare for what would happen Monday.
For businesses along Sixth Avenue, particularly those that depend heavily on tourists traveling historic Route 66, losing easy access isn't a minor inconvenience. It can mean losing an entire day's worth of customers.
Summer is also an especially important season for these businesses. Revenue generated while tourists are passing through Amarillo can help carry locally owned shops through slower winter months. Even one unexpectedly bad summer day can matter.
With more notice, businesses could have prepared.
They could have warned customers on social media, advertised alternative parking, provided directions using side streets or promoted special offers designed to keep people coming through the doors despite construction. Some owners might have chosen to close for the day and give employees time off rather than paying staff to stand around inside an empty business.
Instead, owners were left scrambling.
The communication problem becomes even clearer when considering how some merchants learned about the closure. Jason Barrett, co-owner of 806 Coffee and Lounge, found out because Workman shared a photo of the notice in a group chat. According to Barrett, not every Sixth Avenue business participates in that chat, meaning some merchants did not discover the street was closed until they attempted to open Monday.
That shouldn't be the city's notification system.
The City of Amarillo says street maintenance schedules and expected timelines are available online and that updates are posted on Facebook. It also says direct notifications generally occur about 24 hours before work begins because construction schedules can change.
There is some logic behind that policy. Weather, contractors and other circumstances can cause road projects to move. Nobody wants businesses repeatedly preparing for closures that don't happen.
But there is a big difference between giving businesses an early warning and telling them a schedule is guaranteed.
The city could notify affected businesses several days in advance that work is tentatively scheduled, then provide a final confirmation 24 hours beforehand. An email distribution list for businesses along major commercial corridors would make that relatively simple. Text alerts could provide another option.
Businesses shouldn't have to regularly check a city website or Facebook page just in case the street outside their building might close.
The situation was made worse for 806 Coffee and Lounge when the business also learned that electricity would be interrupted Tuesday because of Xcel Energy work in the area. That outage was separate from the city's road project, but it illustrates just how disruptive infrastructure work can become for a small business.
The cape seal work on Sixth Avenue will ultimately benefit drivers and businesses alike by maintaining the roadway. That's worthwhile.
But infrastructure projects don't happen in a vacuum. There are businesses behind those storefronts, employees depending on shifts and owners depending on customers.
Twenty-four hours may satisfy a contract requirement. That doesn't necessarily make it good communication.
