Timing is everything. This age-old philosophy covers everything from a pass in a football game to closing a busy street. And it’s such a street closing that raises a huge question right now.
With the Christmas and New Years Day holidays rapidly approaching, Blue Ridge city officials decided to start a major downtown construction project. That work meant closing a huge chunk of West Main Street.
Businesses depending on holiday sales took the heaviest hit as they found traffic cut off to their store fronts and already limited parking disappearing.
Neither was the street closing conducive to a successful holiday season for the businesses in the immediate area or the downtown as a whole.
Traffic, already a regular headache, worsened as, added to the street closing, the city failed to regularly provide flaggers to direct drivers around the mess.
The entire downtown and the perception of the city were adversely affected. Visitors and residents alike had to wonder why construction was taking place at such an inopportune time.
The work added an extra level of big city feel to Blue Ridge. Atlanta already has a well-deserved reputation of “where’s the construction today?” To thousands of visitors, Blue Ridge is now seen in the same light.
There is no doubt the work was necessary. Will the city survive the black eye from the timing? Yes. People forget these things.
Will all the businesses survive the blow to their holiday sales? Let’s hope so. People don’t always forget these inconveniences when it comes to who they patronize.
The timing was exceptionally poor judgment on the part of the Blue Ridge decision makers. They failed to look at the big picture.