Clintonville business owners are waiting for the city to decide whether to add bike lanes

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Clintonville is now waiting for a game involving a strip of the Indianapolis business district that could potentially affect bikers and businesses.

Businesses in the area are waiting for a response from Columbus City on how it is going to introduce the bike path, while keeping enough parking spaces in the area for customers.

“I think there has to be a solution for both, I mean we definitely can’t afford to lose parking,” said April Rhodes, owner of The Little Light Collective. “It would be devastating to move out of our place. I feel that I fit in very well with this strip. I feel it was brighter than ever.”

Rhodes said the city has returned to the drawing board after listening to concerns from residents and businesses.

Here are the latest options from the city:

• Removal of about 150 parking spaces along the Indianola Corridor, but preservation of parking in the business district
• Remove all parking on East Indianol Avenue and leave 30 spaces in the business district from Weber to Midgard

“If you take away from this area hundreds of parking spaces in all these enterprises along the square, it is already crowded. You are unlikely to find a place here on Sunday, ”said Frank Williams, a member of the Clintonville Chamber of Commerce.

While business owners are waiting for a decision, they wonder what the decision will be.

“I would say I am a cautious optimist. I felt that I was heard, I definitely felt that the society and the staff of our mayor were listening to me, ”Rhodes said.

“I mean, competing with Netflix is ​​bad enough, the cinemas themselves that came out of the pandemic, you know, were fighting for survival. Fortunately, we succeeded, but there is a problem with parking, ”said Eric Brambeck, owner of Studio 35 Cinema and Drafthouse.

Bremback is grateful that the city is looking again and trying to find a solution. According to him, the removal of the business parking lot will force people to park in the neighborhoods, which may cause concern to local residents.

Clintonville residents have expressed mixed feelings.

“Knowing that there will be a bike path on this road, which is one of our main suburban lanes where we ride in the summer, would be amazing for our safety,” said Eli Ruden-Kryder, a new resident of the community.

“If parking is taken away, I also don’t think it’s reasonable, because where are we going to park? We would need to park there. It doesn’t make sense, “said Columbus resident Lyric Mallens.

10TV contacted the city of Columbus, asking for details on the next step, and has not yet received a response.

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