The Never-ending Construction on Cesar Chavez
Every time the city begins a road construction project in an area where restaurants are present, I literally hold my breath.
I’ve seen the horror stories of the three-year improvement on Barton Springs that literally destroyed several restaurants. Or how about the debacle on Pecan Park that nearly finished off Freda’s Seafood joint? Or the 4th St. mess that finished off the Empanada Parlour and the City Grill. Remember the mind-boggling inefficiency at Congress and Riverside that destroyed the Sonic on Riverside?
But this latest project on Cesar Chavez is past amazement. Not only has the work dragged on forever, (and I’m still not sure what the hell the purpose of it has been), but they even manage to rub salt in the wound. Our plan was to have a steak at III Forks one Saturday night and then to adjourn to Taste Select Wines for some sipping and dessert. Imagine our shock when we got on Cesar Chavez exiting Mopac and found the entire street blocked off: this at 8pm on a Saturday night, traditionally the busiest night for restaurants.
We were rerouted to some lame-ass detour which eventually took us back to Lavaca where we had to valet park on the corner. This took a good 15-minutes including a tongue lashing from one of the city’s finest on a Harley who got very annoyed when we inquired as to the reason for the “detour.”
The valet kid finally told us that the street was being paved. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? The city chooses to pave Cesar Chavez on a Saturday night? Why not Sunday morning? The owners of Taste Select Wines, which happens to sit directly on Cesar Chavez and was completely inaccessible to vehicle traffic, must have been beside themselves: and I don’t blame them one bit.
You think the city is going to reimburse Taste Select Wines for lost business that night? Unlikely, but they darn well should. Moreover, they should plan these “road” projects more efficiently so that restaurants can coexist with the seemingly insatiable need for marginal infrastructure improvement.
