Local business owners along Omaha's streetcar route are banding together to address the ongoing challenges from construction that they said have disrupted their operations for years.
Clark Ross, owner of Mercury at 16th and Harney, has started the Streetcar Impact Alliance to help businesses collectively voice their concerns to the city.
"A lot of us are having trouble down here," Ross said. "We just kind of wanted to coalesce all of our complaints into one and kind of approach the city as one unit."
The alliance plans to launch a survey allowing businesses to quantify exactly how much revenue they've lost due to construction impacts. When contacted about the new group, a city spokesperson said the mayor's office "looks forward to learning more about the group and working together."
Dylan Rhode, owner of The Backline near Ross's business, said he didn't know about the alliance until recently but wants to join.
"This has been intimidating. This is also our busiest season, so January and February are like our two biggest months, and it was right when all of this got laid down," Rhode said. "We've been hit by a lot of challenges."
The construction impacts extend beyond business owners. Kyle Dillon, who moved downtown from Iowa City two months ago, said the current conditions weren't what he expected when deciding to relocate to Omaha.
"I would say just to provide a different way to really promote these businesses that don't have as much foot traffic because of the construction," Dillon said.
Rhode suggested the city could help by organizing events downtown to draw people to the area during construction.
"I'd love to see maybe if Omaha put on some events downtown or helped put on some things that made people come down here for something," Rhode said.
The Streetcar Alliance will host its first meeting at Mercury on Monday, February 23rd at 6 p.m. Business owners and neighbors are welcome to attend.
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