CLEVELAND -- The facade that fell onto East 6th Street figuratively hit businesses also, like a ton of bricks.
Dave's Cosmic Subs reopened Wednesday, but it might be hard to tell.
"If they don't get our sign, I'm going to be out there with spray paint and spray, 'Dave's is open!' you know?" said Dan Lombardy, who owns the downtown shop.
Since April 13, when a hunk of brick and mortar fell nine floors onto East 6th Street outside, the sandwich shop, along with neighboring businesses, closed up shop.
While the pile is gone, people need to dig in to their pockets to start digging them out.
"I'm a little guy. A week off? Is a lot of money lost," said Lombardy. "Lots of people still see the barricades and think they can't come down here."
On Wednesday, the city determined it was safe for travel on the southbound side, covering the sidewalk with scaffolding while work is underway above.
A city spokesperson confirms it issued the permits for an engineering inspection on the facade a week ago.
A contractor, hired by the Garfield Building's owner, has started to secure the decorative, parapet wall. There is no state or local law that requires regular inspections of the building facade.
What was the hold up? WKYC is still waiting to hear the answer, after several requests.
"It should have been top priority. You've got to prioritize certain things, not only for the safety, first and foremost for everybody, but to keep commerce, to keep the city going, the buzz, I can't tell you how many hundreds of people had to be turned away here," said Morgan Cavanaugh, of Moriarty's Pub.
"This took a lot of phone calls from a lot of us saying 'When? When? When?'" he said. "I mentioned scaffolding a few hours afterwards, and I'm sure there was paper on people's desks."
Cavanaugh thinks pushing that paper could mean filling up seats again.
"If we're going to step up for the Republican National Convention and, hopefully, in June, if you know what I mean, we could step up to the plate," he said.
Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman is mum on details, says he's working with the economic development office to infuse business into the area in the coming weeks. The event could be along the line of a flash mob, and details could be announced as early as Thursday.
"Nice, warm, sunny day, maybe hoist a banner, it would be cool. It would be really cool," said Cavanaugh, who's still waiting on that sign.
The northbound lane of East 6th is yet to be reopened. The city did not know how long that, or the repair work, could take.
