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| Councilmember Chris Eggen in front of Grinders. Bucky's is just south of Grinder's Photo courtesy City of Shoreline |
By Diane Hettrick
No doubt that Grinders Hot Sands and Bucky's Auto Repair have been having a tough time of it with the construction on Aurora.
Their shared driveway has been open the entire time, but sometimes has been difficult to find unless you are driving 5 mph.
There have been multiple comments from readers that the construction company has been blocking or using Grinders tiny parking lot.
I checked out the rumors, in person, and checked with the City project manager, Kirk McKinley.
I discovered that the construction equipment was not parked on Grinders property, but was on the street in front, so it blocked the view of the business. In fairness, I must note that Grinders has very poor signage. It has been difficult to tell if they were open or closed. I did recently see what looked like a temporary, but very large banner that said "Closed" so it sounds like they got that message.
Kirk McKinley responded to my other questions:
Merlino Construction has been very careful to not park in Grinders parking lot. Bucky’s, which shares a driveway with Grinders, has been parking there on Mondays when Grinders is closed.
We had an instance where CRT trucks were parking in front of Grinders to buy lunch, and were perceived as being construction vehicles. We’ve asked them to not park in front, because of the perception.
Merlino had a safety training a few weeks ago at Grinders, and all ate lunch there. We are working very hard to keep the visibility open. Unfortunately we are working in front and on the side street (198th) at the same time.
The sidewalk should be poured in front of Grinders with a new driveway within a week or two. We encourage staff and construction team to frequent all businesses in the construction zone.
Both businesses are open on their usual schedules and appreciate your continued business, as do all the Aurora merchants in the construction areas.
If the proposed aggressive rezoning for the MASSIVE area around the future 185th St Station becomes a reality, how will that affect the existing businesses and restaunteurs like Bucky's and Grinders on Aurora? One of the talking points of the aggressive rezoning is to promote more residents in a high density urban housing area without cars (Sorry, Bucky's!), and restaurants within walking distance of the proposed multi-use, high urban density dwellings near the proposed Station.
ReplyDeleteThe driveway has NOT been open the entire time. I wanted to eat at Grinders one evening and the driveway was BLOCKED as well as the street next to it. So I thought I would go to my second choice - Taqueria Guayamas. The driveway was BLOCKED but the street next to it was open.
ReplyDeleteThis is just more City Hall spin - lies, deception, and public relations garbage.
Is it possible to park a block or two away and walk to the restaurant? Is there no neighborhood parking available? Are all the customers limited in their mobility? just wonderin - Exotic Meats moved to the Eastside rather than try to deal with the road work - Aurora Rents managed to suffer through. Perhaps an article about why some survive and some not might be interesting.
ReplyDelete@1:32 pm - you can't walk to the restaurant because there are no sidewalks anymore and it is just a dirt road with construction going on, not to mention there are people who are mobility impaired. Are you going to seriously going to compare the huge parking lot and side street with no construction Aurora Rents had with Bucky's & Grinders?
ReplyDeleteAs for Exotic Meats, they are a mail order outfit and received a huge cash buyout for their troubles. The City of Shoreline doesn't want small businesses along Aurora, only in Shoreline do they think economic development solely consists of building multifamily residential units, everything else they are trying to make non-conforming business.