Merchants Fume as City Pipeline Project Drags On

Hopes for an autumn business upswing have turned into a pipe dream for merchants in the center of Canoga Park.

A dozen shopkeepers say they have been isolated in their stores since midsummer while two city departments feud over a $1-million waterline job along three blocks of Owensmouth Avenue near Sherman Way.

Merchants claim that the project has dragged on because the Los Angeles city departments of Water and Power and Public Works have disagreed over how thick the patch on the street over the pipe should be.

In the meantime, the street remains dug up and blocked, and curb-side parking is banned.

Losing Business

“Business is probably off 80%,” said Maggie Shaker, owner of a postal box and notary service that depends on walk-in traffic.

“It’s awful. People have to park across the street and jump over the trench to get in here. Every time I ask the workmen how much longer it will be, they say, ‘three weeks,’ ” she said.

Barber Hal Bruck said he has laid off a second barber because business is so slow.

“Nobody can get in here. So I just sit in here by myself and read books,” Bruck said.

Florist Sid Weissman said his business has dropped like flower petals in a cold snap.

“This started in the beginning of August, and here it is October and they’re still sitting on their shovels,” Weissman said. “Business is off by half. Why should businessmen suffer because of a fight between city inspectors and the DWP?”

Confusion Blamed for Delay

City officials Friday blamed the delay more on confusion than confrontation.

Bruce Kuebler, assistant head of the DWP’s water-operating division, said his agency recently took over concrete-repaving responsibilities from the city’s Bureau of Street Maintenance.

As part of the deal, the Department of Public Works’ bureau of contract administration was put in charge of inspecting the DWP’s cement-laying, Kuebler said.

The confusion in Canoga Park came when one inspector approved a four-inch-thick patch and DWP workers poured it. But the cement had to be ripped out after a second inspector decreed that the patch wasn’t thick enough, Kuebler said.

Workers plan to pour an eight-inch-thick patch next week, he said.

Arthur Milicov, head of the bureau of contract administration, said he was unaware of the mix-up.

But he said patch thicknesses are mandated by “present standards.” He pledged Friday to “get the job going if there’s any delay.”

Officials said the work started in June and is about 60% finished.