| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
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| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
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| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
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W.V. businesses suffering
Olympic-size fears blamed for dearth of diners, shoppers
By Marina O'Neill
Deseret News business writer
West Valley City merchants have a message for locals scared away by Olympic traffic fears: Come back. Now. Please.
"We miss you. We miss you," pleaded Julie Batchelor, manager of Amici's Della Cuccina on Decker Lake Drive, appealing directly to regular restaurant goers.
With her business located on the street ringing the E Center Olympics hockey venue, Batchelor fears all of West Valley assumes the road to Amici's is closed. Or worse yet, it's impossible to navigate due to Olympics-sized parking and traffic woes. Those fears never materialized, insist Batchelor and fellow E Center-area businesses.
Instead, traffic fears have turned into the nightmare reality of daily business cut in half as locals stay away and Olympics hockey goers are routed in shuttles along back roads for security reasons — destroying hopes for an Olympics business boost.
"I don't even have my normal amount, even my average day sales," Batchelor said. The restaurant has done well to see half its normal 150-person lunch crowd the last two weeks, she said. "It's been very, very slow."
Although the end of the road closest to the E Center is closed to through traffic, Decker Lake Road businesses can be reached from 3500 South.
"We're not getting any local traffic. It's definitely not what we anticipated," agreed Scott Finn, associate manager of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, saying the restaurant had hoped for a "major boost" instead of the current downturn. "Traffic by the E Center, traffic by the venues is not that bad. Support your local restaurants. That's the message we need to get across," he said.
The same was true at the Hollywood Connection, where movies, game rooms and the arcade are still open for business, unbeknownst to most local customers.
"(The Salt Lake Organizing Committee) warned of four-hour waits around the E Center. Residents just got it in their minds that 'this is a place I need to avoid,' " said Alan Anderson, president of ChamberWest, which represents 500 businesses in West Valley City, Taylorsville and Kearns. "We think SLOC has done such a good job with their transportation plan that it's overused."
Anderson appealed to locals to get back to business as usual, including restaurant lunches and dinners, as soon as possible. Besides, with scores of Olympics athletes and international visitors in town, residents have a unique opportunity to hobnob, he said.
"You never know who comes into your restaurant," Anderson said, noting a surprise visit by Canadian figure skating sensations Jamie Sale and David Pelletier at a chamber lunch this week. "We should just be coming down and mingling. We should be having fun during the Games."
E-mail: moneill@desnews.com
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February 16, 2002
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