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New Canaan Businesses Blast Elm Street Construction

Local merchants owners say noise, congestion drive away customers.

On a recent Monday morning, Christy Ryan—the manager of Sara Campbell on Elm Street—faced a dilemma.

"It's a beautiful day, I could open the door," she said. "But it's so loud outside."

Directly outside the boutique's door, workers with Connecticut Light and Power were drilling and hammering as part of an ongoing electrical construction project on New Canaan's main drag. Workers are mending wires beneath the street, near the Park Street intersection.

Ryan said the busiess—a satellite shop of a Boston-based clothing store—had seen only one customer between the hours of 10 a.m. and noon.

"It's a big time problem," she said. "Everyday it's a different truck."

"It [was] an issue all summer," she added. "People just don't come in."

Pauline Dora, owner of Design Solutions, said work crews were also outside her store for two or three weeks in October. She said their presence definitely has had a negative impact on her business.

“Why they didn’t do everything at one time is beyond me,” Dora told Patch. “The only thing that’s good is they don’t work Saturday and Sunday.”

Dora said the crews never come in to talk and give her updates on the progress of the work.

“Why can’t they park their trucks in the alley,” she said. “God forbid the guys walk 10 feet.”

Work is expected to be wrapped up in three weeks, Dora said.

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Just a short thought to get the word out quickly about anything in your neighborhood.
Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
feo mesics May 23, 2013 at 10:50 am
Where DIDN'T you learn to write?? Jane Himmel May 22, 2013 at 01:27 pm "This has CONVINCED MYRead More GROWING CONVICTION that Patch has moved complete..."
Jane Himmel May 22, 2013 at 01:40 pm
I just called Staples. This is really disturbing to me. If I don't get a satisfactory answer, IRead More will let people know and I will also decide whether to continue shopping there. I do not like to give my money to unethical businesses.
Jane Himmel May 22, 2013 at 01:27 pm
This has convinced my growing conviction that Patch has moved completely away from any pretense ofRead More being a news source and is simply an electronic bulletin board. By abandoning their prior procedure of approving posts before they go up, they are letting anything go on and then taking them down if they're reported. By then, it's too late: the poster has gotten their message across during the time it's in the lineup. I only check in with Patch occasionally now and so many people in town won't read it at all anymore. I think we need to be honest with ourselves about what kind of a public forum this venue is. This doesn't reflect well on Staples if they are using subterfuge and violating Terms of Use on Patch either.
Lauren May 24, 2013 at 10:29 pm
Tom, the tree warden doesn't just "put in trees and take them down" just like that. ThereRead More is a reason behind every tree that has come down or gone up. Whats with this town and trees anyway? It seems like a huge source of controversy...they are TREES.
Lauren May 23, 2013 at 08:09 am
if they had done it at night at least it wouldn't have been smudged. BUT, i happen to think itsRead More nice, and especially with the flags hanging. we forget we are a small new england town, and small things like the red white and blue stripes remind me that we still are! :)
Hollywood2 May 22, 2013 at 10:05 pm
Somebody is pretending to be me again. On June 6 we remember D-Day. Thanks again to all our vetsRead More on Memorial Day and D-Day. That's a real reason to celebrate the week.