PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh business owners said they were blindsided just days before the NFL Draft when they saw no parking signs posted along a road in the North Shore.
Jeff Trebac is the owner of Peppi’s. He said he noticed yellow “No Parking” all over his street.
“I spent the next two and a half to three hours contacting every businessperson I know in the neighborhood, whether it’s via cell phone or just walking in, and I was like, ‘Were you privy to this? Did you know about us losing our parking for almost a week, and basically being told two days before it was going to happen?’ And nobody knew about it,” Trebac said.
The signs said, ‘No Parking’ starting at 6 a.m. on Tuesday through Sunday after the NFL Draft.
“You’re gonna potentially cut sales on a Tuesday and Wednesday when there is no draft,” Trebac said.
He said the last time parking was closed on Western Avenue, they lost 40-50 percent of business for the day. He wanted answers, and a few minutes later, Channel 11 had them.
In a statement, the city of Pittsburgh said:
“The signs were not approved by the city to be posted. We have been in touch with the permit-holding organization who are removing them this morning.”
According to the city, that organization is P3R, which is in charge of a Draft Day 5K on Saturday morning.
Channel 11 contacted P3R for an explanation. They said a third-party vendor had incorrectly placed the signs.
In a statement, they said, “The signs are in the process of being removed and will be fully taken down by the end of today. We appreciate the community’s understanding and apologize for any confusion this may have caused.”
At noon, the signs still had not been torn down, so business started taking matters into their own hand.
The signs were down by 2 p.m., but business owners are still concerned.
Sebastian Lloreta owns Colombino Coffee across from Peppi’s. His employees had been warning customers all morning about the closure, thinking it was real.
“As long as they acknowledge that mistake and fix it as soon as possible, that would be great,” Lloreta said.
All of the signs are now down.
Click here for a breakdown of road closures in Pittsburgh happening for the NFL Draft.
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