Huron Church barriers could be around 'for a number of weeks'

Monaco Lebanese Grill missed out on being open on two big days, Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day.

“In general during the whole pandemic with the restrictions we’ve been suffering enough and now this. It’s just not fair to us anymore,” said owner Adel Elsayed. 

The South Windsor business is one of many affected along Huron Church Road by barricades, which are being patrolled by law enforcement.

Elsayed says enforcement officers at Northwood Street and Daytona Avenue have, on occasion, refused him entry past the barricade only to let him in after an explanation.

With no access to the restaurant, Elsayed considered delivery but chose not to offer it.

“The hassle of our drivers trying to get around this mess is just not gonna work out for us,” he said.

He cleaned out his cooler Tuesday throwing out food that is going to go bad.

Elsayed is looking for relief options to sustain his business during this interruption.

“Can’t open ‘til everything clears up,” he said.

And the timeline doesn’t look promising.

Mayor Drew Dilkens feels barriers could remain until the issue in Ottawa is resolved.

“I think you’re going to see this here for a number of weeks which will also give us time to develop medium and long-term solutions when the jersey barriers disappear,” he said.

Mayor Dilkens is empathetic to those affected.

“Know that we understand the impact of this decision that police made to keep this corridor open but this corridor has to stay open,” he said. “We cannot afford for our whole economy to be disrupted by this type of protest.”

Last week’s protest slowed business at Bogar Truck Parts and Service and brought things to a crawl this week because of the barricades.

“Why is my driveway blocked when I have at least on any given minute of the day three to four police cars sitting in front of my property, at the turnarounds, at every intersection?” said general manager Anita Fransen.

She wrote a letter to the mayor Tuesday asking for the intersection of Northwood St. and Industrial Drive to be opened to help ease the frustration for business and would-be customers on both sides of the road.

“Please open up Industrial and Ambassador which then we have a fighting chance to survive,” Fransen said.