| NEWS | Boxed In Phoenix bars and restaurants fight to stay afloat during light rail construction downtown. BY NATASHA YEE as their GPS systems woefully try to sort out the madness. The construction started in October A 2019 and for small businesses such as Tres Leches Café, a coffee bar with a drive-thru location in South Phoenix, it has meant a major drop in sales. The coffee shop, located at Central Avenue between Roeser Road and Southern Avenue, closed for over a year after construction began. “We missed out on what would have been $1 million in generated sales that year, which is insane,” said Magaly Martinez Saenz, who runs Tres Leches with partner ET Rivera. The Valley Metro South Central Extension/Downtown Hub project spans 5.5 miles, extending the current down- town Phoenix light rail system south to Baseline Road. The project includes a new hub in the heart of the city, eight new stations, public art, and two park-and- rides, where commuters can drive their cars to a stop, park for free, and ride the light rail to their destination. The city is aware of the challenges the construction presents for local businesses. It created a funding program in conjunction with Valley Metro and Prestamos CDFI, which stands for Community Development Financial Institution, to ease the burden, offering businesses a grant of up to $9,000. The Small Business Financial Assistance Program (SBFAP) began in 2021 and will continue through 2024 to aid mom-and- pop restaurants and bars, along with other businesses, through the construction. Some businesses have received funding, but many are still struggling to make ends meet as potential customers have difficulty finding their way around the city and securing parking spots. The owners of Tres Leches applied for the funding, but the SBFAP denied it, claiming that the business made too much money to qualify. When Martinez Saenz told the organization that the coffee shop had been shut down from March to April of 2020, then again in March 2021 to June 2022 due to all the blockages surrounding it, she was asked to resubmit her applica- tion with additional information. Then Martinez Saenz noticed a waiver and release form toward the end of the application requiring her to “compromise, settle, forever release, waive, discharge, s you drive south from downtown Phoenix, orange traffic cones litter Central Avenue. Drivers weave in and out of makeshift lanes and relinquish any and all past and present claims, demands, losses, damages, rights, remedies, or causes of action for construc- tion related revenue reduction.” She decided not to resubmit the application. “That did not sit well with me. I don’t know if I would ever have the time or resources to bring that sort of lawsuit forward, but I don’t want to remove the possibility of it ever happening,” Martinez Saenz said. Financial Help — With a Catch Phoenix City Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari, the District 7 representative, has been instrumental in promoting the grant program. Her district is where much of the light rail construction is taking place. “Businesses are eligible for up to $9,000 in grant money, which you do not have to pay back,” Ansari explained in a promotional video posted on Facebook, before telling businesses where to apply. She went on to say that the program also provides business consulting services like web and social media support, which are available to businesses regardless if they get the grant. When asked by Phoenix New Times about the waiver and release form on the application, Ansari deferred the question to the city’s attorneys, calling it “direct legal advice.” Neither city attorneys nor Prestamos CDFI responded to requests for comment by New Times. Madeline Phipps, a public information specialist with Valley Metro, said that the organization also offers assistance in conjunction with the city of Phoenix. The Business Assistance Program works with restaurants, bars, and other enterprises along the light rail. It includes access to business advisors and help with access signage, special events, financial planning, marketing, and social media, according to the website. Attorneys for the city drafted the waiver and release portion of the application, Phipps said. “Participation in the SBFAP is completely voluntary. Along with several criteria that keep SBFAP funding local and accountable, the waiver provides consider- ation in exchange for the benefits offered,” Phipps said in an email. The city provided Martinez Saenz with signs and banners to help direct customers to Tres Leches through the construction. But she said they simply weren’t enough. Martinez Saenz recently invested $20,000 for a brightly lit “Tres Leches Café” sign in addition to painting the exterior of the cafe bright pink and orange to attract attention. She’s also made Instagram reels instructing customers on how to navigate the construction. “Most people completely avoid Central Avenue right now and I feel that wasn’t taken into account,” Martinez Saenz said. “We’re at about 30 percent of our sales.” She and long-term partner Rivera have another Tres Leches location at 17th Avenue and Van Buren Street, which is luckily not along the construction route. They opened the South Phoenix drive-thru space in February 2020, right before businesses began to shut down due to the pandemic. The drive-thru allowed people to safely grab their lattes while social distancing. But cars stopped filling the parking lot once construction ramped up, Martinez Saenz said. She and Rivera eventually made the tough decision to close the South Phoenix cafe, laying off 13 staff members after attempting to move many to the Van Buren Street location. That cafe also closed from June to September of 2021, due to the combined impact of lower sales and staffing woes. Martinez Saenz and Rivera reopened the Tres Leches location along South Central in September 2021 with the help of a federal loan, as they decided the SBFAP’s fine print was too risky. ‘This Construction Should be Done’ But other local business owners have had different experiences with the program. Albert Bahram owns Crazy Jim’s Restaurant, a breakfast and lunch eatery at Third Avenue and Washington Street. He received the SBFAP funding in both 2021 and 2022, and has utilized it for rent and utilities. It made just a small dent in the business’ overall losses though, Bahram said. He estimated that the restaurant has lost about $200,000 in revenue since the construction began. “Do I think they’re taking longer than they should? Absolutely. This construction should be done by now,” Bahram said. “But I appreciate the city’s help. We have had to deal with the impact of COVID-19 and the light rail construction at the same time. It has been very difficult.” Crazy Jim’s is situated near multiple city and state courthouses and both the Natasha Yee The light rail construction in downtown Phoenix is not easy to navigate. Maricopa County Treasurer’s Office and Facilities Management Department. This normally results in a multitude of business from municipal employees and those visiting the courts. But it’s much more arduous for customers to get to the restau- rant for a Chorizo Omelette or Gyro Platter these days. They face severely reduced vehicle access, a lack of parking, and confusing pedestrian walkways. “I get lots of dispute charges every month. We make the food for carry-out, DoorDash, or Grubhub and some people never get the chance to pick it up because they can’t figure out how to get here. And it’s money straight out of my pocket,” Bahram said. While some small businesses struggle through the construction, even with the funding, others have completely closed their doors. Azukar Coffee began as a mobile beverage cart and opened a brick and mortar cafe in 2017 with the help of Arizona State University’s Prepped program. The program helps entrepreneurs, particularly those who identify as women and underrepresented minorities, to scale up their businesses. But the cafe’s owner announced its closure in September 2021. “We cannot bear to see our community in shambles with construction, so Azukar is closed. We still have a lot of love to give and we look forward to a future!” read a September 2 Instagram caption from the south Phoenix coffee shop. In an accompa- nying farewell video, Sandra Flores, Azukar’s owner, thanked her customers. “May everybody be well, be blessed, and peace be with you. Love you all,” she said. The business has remained closed since. Bills to Pay Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour, a swanky and popular bar at Central Avenue and Jefferson Street, has also felt the impact, according to owner Ross Simon. “We have construction coming from every angle,” Simon said. “We’re boxed-in anywhere you look — out front and side, in the back alley, and there’s even construc- tion on top of us.” Bitter & Twisted is situated on >> p 11 9 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES OCT 20TH–OCT 26TH, 2022
