They received a notice from the city alerting them of the street closures. Riggs understands that repairs need to be made, but she’s worried the disruption to her business could be damaging.
“I’m sending out an email to my customers to let them know that, yes, Old City is open,” she said. “It's Philadelphia's art district and historic district. They have to keep us thriving down here.”
Riggs is also anxious about the ambiguity of the city’s notice.
“Basically it said that it would be a repair, possibly three to four weeks,” she added.
The Philadelphia Water Department said the repairs involve a lot of undermining along the intersection, and they closed the streets for safety purposes. They expect repairs to take about a month and hope to work with another contractor to speed up the process.
The two blocks that are temporarily closed are home to many other small businesses and art galleries, as well as the Betsy Ross House and Michael Bloomberg’s new Philadelphia office for his 2020 campaign, which opened on Third Street last month. Even the ever-populated Starbucks on the corner has been unusually barren.
In the meantime, the Old City District has agreed to help business owners with signage to alert passersby that the stores are open. Riggs just wants transparency.
“Honest communication with us would be great,” she said, “so we can make plans around what will happen.”