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Frustrated Businesses Coming Around on 'Save The Rain' Projects in Westcott

John Smith/WAER News

  The raindrops were falling this morning… and the newest “Save The Rain” Project was seeping it all up in the Westcott Neighborhood.  

The construction in the business district was challenged.  On the same day Picasso’s Bakery opened last summer, Co-Owner David Zaczynski says construction began.  Now, that the project is over, the bakery’s door is more active.

“Neighbors that lived two blocks away would come up and be like, ‘we never knew you were here, I had no idea there was a bakery here.  How long were you hear for,’ and we’d say four months.  And they were even more surprised”

Credit John Smith/WAER News
Picasso's Bakery entrance was blocked during the construction

  Zaczynski says people avoided the Westcott area because of construction and he’s hopeful it will all be worth it, in the end. 

BUSINESSES COME AROUND

However, the Owner of Westcott Florist Dino Centra thinks people still came because of the specialty shops.

“It was an inconvenience that’s going to end up bettering everything.  Si it had to be done sometime, and the summertime, and them guys moved really fast.”

Centra concedes that his business wasn’t as affected as some of the others.  

Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney says The Westcott Street and West Onondaga Street Save the Rain projects will collect an estimated 6.5 Million gallons of storm water annually.

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.
John Smith has been waking up WAER listeners for a long time as our Local Co-Host of Morning Edition with timely news and information, working alongside student Sportscasters from the Newhouse School.