West View Business Owners Worry About Bridge Closing's Impact

For June Weletz, owner of the Townsend Sweet Shoppe at 1369 Center Avenue, the closing of the Levi Duff Bridge couldn't come at a worse time.

"Times are tough as it is and this year Easter is very early, Valentine's Day was after Ash Wednesday," said Weletz. "A lot of people have given up chocolate for lent, not good for the candy business." 

The Townsend Sweet Shoppe is less than a mile from the bridge, which carries Center Avenue over the Parkway North and is a main link between West View and Bellevue. It closed Monday for a rehabilitation that's expected to last until November, at the earliest. 

"It's going to devastate our little businesses here," said Weletz. "I have a huge clientele from Bellevue. The detour they are giving them is ridiculous. It's a six-mile detour. Hopefully, most people know that if they can't come up Balph, they can come up Union and cut across."

Arnold's Market, located at 1498 Center Avenue, is even closer to the bridge and manager Jesse Sprague isn't sure what impact the closing will have.

"I can't see it helping, because we put a sign out with a specials on it and we get people going by who decide to stop, that traffic will be reduced," he said. "And there's no buses either, there's a bus stop at every corner between here and West View Plaza, that's like 20 stops."

But Sprague remains hopeful.

"It's hard to say how much business we get from that side," he said. "One good thing, the workers already came in here and got hoagies, so it might actually help at lunch. Thank god we have our loyal clientele from the neighborhood."

Weletz isn't ready to throw in the towel either.

"I'm a polio survivor, that didn't knock me down, a bridge isn't going to knock me down."

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