Renovations to Main Street not smearing Smyrna business

Downtown Smyrna, a small Delaware town just north of Dover, is getting a makeover. Two jobs are going on at the same time: repairing and beautifying Main Street. To keep businesses happy, all parties agreed to a compromise.

Downtown Smyrna, a small Delaware town just north of Dover, is getting a makeover. Two jobs are going on at the same time: repairing and beautifying Main Street. To keep businesses happy, all parties agreed to a compromise.

Listen:
[audio: 090421bcsmyrna.mp3]

Right now historic downtown Smyrna is kind of a mess. But according to some business owners there, that’s OK. In this nasty economy, they’re just glad the streets are still open. Brian Brown owns Smyrna Sporting Goods.

Brown: It hasn’t begun. Wait until they tear up the sidewalks. Wait until they start putting footers in. There will be mud. There will be dirt.  But the big picture is it’ll be beautiful when it’s done.

As part of a compromise between the town and the business owners, the streets remain open during business hours and most of the work is done at night.