Some Pasco businesses face more troubles as work begins destroying historic underpass

Take a few steps outside of Jose Cuevas’ two downtown Pasco businesses and you’d see a construction zone. The sidewalk has turned to rubble. Parking is nonexistent.

It’s a sign that the demolition and filling of the historic Lewis Street Underpass is underway. The work is the final part of the $36 million Lewis Street Overpass project now that the overpass officially opened to traffic on Friday, April 26.

For many of the downtown shops it brought a sigh of relief after struggling to stay in business during the long overpass project. Some were forced to close because customers avoided the area because of the road closures.

Now the underpass construction is creating another headache.

Cuevas owns Salon Fiesta, an event space, in addition to Pasco Automotive Services at 1st Avenue and Lewis Street. During that last two months of construction, Salon Fiesta had to close while the auto shop stayed open.

“My business is an event center so my best months are April and May, all the way until July and August,” Cuevas said. “The worst for me is coming now because they are closing the street to fill the old underpass.”

City spokesman Jon Funfar said Pasco expects to complete work at that intersection at 1st Avenue and Lewis Street in the next month. The full project won’t be done until August.

Cuevas’ businesses are the only two on the east side of the intersection. On the west side lot is a paleteria shop and a taco truck.

“We all benefit from each other,” he said. “People come in, get their oil changed, run to the taco truck or they go to the popsicle place. They go hand in hand.”

Federal money red tape

Last week, the city council met in a special meeting Wednesday to vote to reallocate $370,000 from the Lewis Street project to the 2024 Small Business Relief Program project as a way to access Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money to help businesses hurt by the construction.

Mayor Pete Serrano was the lone dissenting vote. He previously voted against reallocating CDBG money in March.

A group of 39 businesses are eligible for the grants based on the geographic area set by the city. But most will not qualify to receive any money based on the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements.

The biggest hurdle for the business owners, many of the Latino, is the low-to-moderate income level required and the documentation needed. Several owners told the planning commission and the council that they lost a lot of money during the closures but still don’t qualify for the grants.

Kristin Webb, the city’s CDBG administrator, reported that the city had received just five applications as of Wednesday, May 1. “Two of them were missing documentation and one is not in the council-approved geographical area,” she said.

“It’s not a very good look for the city,” Council member Leo Perales said during comments at the planning commission meeting.

“Sometimes the city does things wrong. And it’s OK to say that as long as we learn from it and make things better,” he said.

During the council’s vote Wednesday, Perales said the city should look harder for other money to help the Lewis Street businesses that do not qualifying for the federal grants.

Perales said he wants to talk about it more at the Pasco City Council meeting Monday, May 6.