Sara Quoia Bryant, owner of Cool Digs Rock Shop located at 13 W. Union St., hosted a town hall meeting Wednesday in the Athens Community Center to discuss the loss of local businesses in town.
Bryant owns two locations of Cool Digs Rock Shop, one on West Union Street and one on East State Street.
The town hall began with Bryant giving a personal story, discussing her struggles maintaining business in her shop on West Union. Bryant pointed her struggles to the ongoing construction located outside of the Lostro building, which has effectively blocked off the main parts of the sidewalk close to her shop entry.
Bryant voiced her frustration with the city and said its poor management has led to inaccessible businesses.
“My experiences with trying to get the assistance of our elected leaders has been just as heartbreaking,” Bryant said. “I know I'm not the only business owner in this community that has had trouble getting help from our administration, who has had a lot of solid construction projects, and I'm just going to call it what it is. It's bad city planning, and it affects real lives.”
The meeting was then opened to the audience, offering the attendees to speak about their personal experiences with local business management in Athens.
James Wanke, a member of the family who owns and operates Silver Serpent, asked the attendees in the forum to shout out all of the local businesses that have shut down in the past year.
Those in attendance mentioned names such as China Fortune, Athena Grand, Grub-N-Go, Ambassador Launders, Sol Island Bar and Grill, Import House and Jack Neal Floral.
Wanke connected the closures to failures on the city’s part and said the city had no purpose in closing the sidewalk down on West Union Street.
“I do think that in my own experience, in my family's experience, I really can't think of any example of where the city has ever helped us or made any sort of real accommodation to assist us in opening and operating a local business,” Wanke said.
Barbara Stout, the owner of Athens Underground, spoke about how Athens has changed since her childhood in the city.
“When I was growing up, Court Street was a vibrant business district with all kinds of funky little shops and places you went downtown and went shopping,” Stout said. “Over the years, more and more and more have gone out.”
Stout went on to discuss the issue of street closures in Athens. She, among others, said the city closes the streets too often for festivals and events.
Stout claimed the closures block off traffic and make it difficult for the shops to gather business. She also said the shop owners deserve a list of when the city plans close streets.
Celeste Polsenelli, co-owner of Little Professor Book Center, cited issues with not just the city but with Ohio University as well.
“The university, over the last several years, has become incredibly more insular and is not doing very much to promote having students (and) faculty come in and enjoy the town (and) shop at our centers,” Polsenelli said.
Mayor Steve Patterson was in attendance and came up to speak, starting by thanking all of those present for their commitment to Athens.
Patterson then proposed solutions to this issue, first pointing out succession planning, which would allow businesses to have new people come in and take over the shop if the current owners cannot continue operation.
Patterson also proposed creating a small business committee or council, as well as a city business liaison. The proposed additions would allow for more collaboration between the city and local businesses.
Patterson said in the past year and a half, nine food and beverage establishments, five retail stores, four service providers and three healthcare industry establishments have opened in Athens.
“I think that we have a real opportunity, and that opportunity is to do exactly what I've heard from several people in here, is that we need to collectively work together and figure out solutions and not just point out problem, problem, problem without having a solution,” Patterson said.
Bryant proposed two major solutions, beginning with pushing for a community benefits plan.
"It outlines how the project will impact the community, both good and bad, and then outlines how the company will improve the community with their project and how they will mitigate harm,” Bryant said.
Community benefits plans are common in the U.S. and are even required by the Department of Energy in regard to the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Bryant then discussed a proposed bill called the Athens Administrative Accountability Act for 2025.
“This (act) would just be a simple document that we could pass by citizens initiative that basically says that we expect our elected to follow our city code and to take action when it's not being followed,” Bryant said. “We expect them to not make special privileges for out-of-town corporations. We don't want to give away our tax money.”
Athens resident Joe Radwany closed the meeting with a statement to the crowd.
“We are blessed to live in a vibrant, thriving community, but with great blessings come great responsibility,” Radwany said. “What I've heard from a lot of frustration today and a lot of the possible solutions, communication is probably the answer, but it takes personal responsibility.”
After the meeting, Bryant reflected on the outcome of the town hall.
“I was encouraged that we had a lot of people show up. I thought that was really great,” Bryant said. “I feel encouraged that so many of them were business owners, and I know that we as a community, we're going to stick together.”
