Relief coming to Pasco businesses after 2nd closes. Why will it take a month to approve?

Eric Rosane
·5 min read

Small business owners struggling to stay open during a full road closure in downtown Pasco have some financial relief coming their way.

But it could still take months before they begin seeing that money in their pockets.

Pasco City Council voted 6-1 on Monday night to reallocate $370,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for micro enterprise grants and utility assistance for businesses within a certain proximity of the Lewis Street overpass project.

A 30-day notice period is required for the city before it can make changes to the block grants. The city’s proposal must also be reviewed and approved by both the planning commission and city council before they can dole out any money.

Spending also will need to follow guidelines from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is the federal agency that awards the city the money.

Mayor Pete Serrano was the lone dissenting vote Monday. He said he didn’t want to disrupt CDBG funds that were already allocated and was fearful the city was establishing a risky fiscal precedent.

He could not be reached Tuesday by the Herald about his decision.

“More detailed information regarding the application process and eligibility criteria will be provided as they become available,” said Pasco spokesman Jon Funfar.

This map provided by the City of Pasco shows downtown roadway closures caused by the ongoing Lewis Street overpass project. On Feb. 26, the city closed five blocks of Lewis Street for two months to realign the roadway from the closed underpass onto the new overpass. Courtesy City of Pasco
This map provided by the City of Pasco shows downtown roadway closures caused by the ongoing Lewis Street overpass project. On Feb. 26, the city closed five blocks of Lewis Street for two months to realign the roadway from the closed underpass onto the new overpass. Courtesy City of Pasco

‘We are not panhandlers’

Hispanic-owned businesses along Lewis Street, between 2nd and Oregon avenues, have been struggling to find customers since the city fully closed the east-west corridor on Feb. 26. The closure is expected to last eight weeks while contractors finish the new overpass.

The closure has made access to businesses nearly impossible and a detour has rerouted traffic away from downtown. Business has been pulled away from restaurants, tire shops, auto repair shops, athletic gyms and other types of stores.

Shortly before the city council’s vote, several Hispanic business leaders gathered in the council chambers asking them to pass some form of financial relief and demanded they not “play politics” when it comes to the issue.

At least two businesses already have closed their doors in an attempt to wait out the Lewis Street closure, and several more have reportedly reduced their hours.

“I know a lot of the families here are really banking on these funds to come through, to support their kids, because it’s not joke,” Pedro Torres, an instructor at Movement Athletics in Pasco, told the city council.

“They’re not just here going for a money grab, looking for a free handout. I come from a family that proudly never took a dime of welfare at all — they figured it out. They weren’t looking for hand-me-downs. That’s not the kind of people we are,” Torres continued.

He also asked the business-owning council members to consider what they would do if they were in the same situation.

Jose Caballero owns Mexi-King, a taqueria truck at the corner of 2nd Avenue and Lewis Street.

He told the council he was closing down for the next two months because business had slowed substantially since the road closure. Closing his truck will leave him and his family out of work, but they hope they can reopen when traffic resumes downtown.

“We are not panhandlers. We are hard-working people just like everybody else,” said Valerie Torres, manager at Lewis Street Tire & Torres Auto Repair.

Torres’ family business closed their doors this week as well due to the road closure, leaving her and four other employees without a job.

“This isn’t a money grab situation. This is a real-life situation,” she said.

Lewis Street overpass

Maria Serra, the city’s interim public works director, said road contractors have agreed to work an additional day each week to reopen Lewis Street sooner.

“At this time, we are hesitant to establish a new date because we are doing underground work and we all know what happens with underground civil projects. There could be some surprises,” she said.

City staff began hosting weekly meetings with Lewis Street business owners to keep them updated on the project, and also added signs saying that businesses near the overpass were open to customers. A larger advertisement campaign paid for by the city to help businesses is planned in the coming weeks.

The city says it is still trying to determine how much financial impact the Lewis Street closure will ultimately have on downtown businesses.

Once approved by the council, the $370,000 in CDBG funds will be directed into two programs: Micro enterprise grants and utility assistance.

Roughly $300,000 will go toward micro enterprise grants for small businesses with less than five full-time employees. Businesses deemed eligible would be awarded $15,000 to $20,000, and applications will likely require two years of tax information.

The remaining $70,000 will be used for utility assistance. Businesses would be awarded about $3,500 that could be used for non-rent related utility charges.

City Manager Adam Lincoln said these block grant funds were originally earmarked to be spent on construction improvements along Lewis Street, between 2nd and 5th avenues. The funds can be pulled away to help businesses because the project was not yet fully funded.