CicLAvia taking over the Valley: Some business owners upset over road closures
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The first CicLAvia of the year is coming up this weekend in the San Fernando Valley, but it's causing some controversy.
The open street festival takes place Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The 6-mile route from North Hollywood to Studio City starts at the intersection of Chandler and Lankershim boulevards, continues up Lankerskim to the Universal City/Studio City Metro Red Line station, then turns up Ventura Boulevard to Coldwater Canyon Avenue.
Roads will be closed to all but foot and bicycle traffic beginning at 8 a.m. through approximately 5:30 p.m., which could hurt sales at some local businesses.
Studio City Hand Car Wash owner Ben Forat is not happy with the plans especially since Sundays are typically the busiest day for his car wash.
"What are we going to do? We wash cars... there's no cars coming through," said Forat. "We definitely have to close up the whole day and we lose a lot of revenue. We're going to lose about $6,000 [and] our employees will be out of a job for the day."
Brent Geris says while some businesses might rack in profits from people stopping in during CicLAvia, he expects to lose money at his magic store.
"None of my traffic is foot traffic. It's a destination, they leave their house to come here," said Geris. "Some people come from very far and sometimes Sunday is their day to come."
CicLAvia organizers say the route was carefully planned to have the least negative impact on businesses.
"I feel for every business that does not do well on CicLAvia day and we hope that we give them enough time to actually plan so that they can think about alternatives," said Aaron Paley, co-founder and Executive Director of CicLAvia.
Forat says he already has.
"So we're thinking maybe opening up and washing bicycles, or selling certificates for car washes at a very discounted price," he said. "We're trying to take a negative and turn it into a positive."
For more information about the event -- including activities along the route, bike rental, road closures and parking restrictions -- visit ciclavia.org/ciclavia_the_valley.
