Tacoma light rail construction takes major toll on Stadium District businesses

TACOMA, Wash. — Mention the Tacoma Link light rail project and you’ll get Steven Salamone’s blood boiling.

“It’s not my project, I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t vote for it, I hate paying for it,” he said.

The native New Yorker’s making a living in Tacoma selling New York-style pizza. He isn’t afraid to speak his mind.

“The parking is insane, nobody wants to come here anymore, all our customers are running away,” said Salamone.

He said the construction is killing his bottom line.

“I figure I’m down about $10,000 to $15,000 a month,” he said.

The construction isn’t just keeping customers away, it stopped his city services. Last week, Tacoma Solid Waste Management didn’t pick up Salamone’s recyclables.

Cans of tomato sauce, bottles of olive oil and boxes of mushrooms fill the three blue recycle bins outside his restaurant.

Salamone said, when he called the city, he was told he’d have to pay extra to have workers come back out to pick up his recyclables.

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“For some reason, it now becomes my problem. What did I do? I pay for the service, come pick up the containers like you always do. If you’ve got to walk a few feet, walk a few feet,” he said.

The City of Tacoma blames the construction barriers and said it’s the contractor’s job to make sure bins are accessible if roads are blocked.

“The container may not be visible due to the service of the construction that’s going on,” said Lyle Hauenstein, Tacoma Solid Waste Collections Supervisor. “There’s a lot of hands involved in this project, but, if there’s good communication between us and all the other elements that are involved in it, it mitigates a lot of those challenges, so we’re able to provide the services that we want to.”

Across the street from Salamone’s Pizza, Harvester Restaurant is also hurting.

They typically stay open until midnight, but, starting Thursday, they’re closing at 3 p.m.

“This place has been open for 50 years at night and now, in a month’s time period, it’s killed the business so bad. I mean, there’s literally more employees at night than customers,” said Assistant Manager Jennifer Ploof.

Business owners just want the construction to end, but, right now, there’s no end in sight.

Cox Media Group