Q&A With the Businesses - Kathi Thim of Kathi's Barber Shop

Since the on July 18, many businesses have , screaming to the public "We're open! Come on in!" However, inconvenience doesn't even describe the trek from Royersford to Spring City, and vice versa, without the 80-plus year-old bridge.

Still, businesses are doing the best they can over the supposed eight-week span of the closure. In week two, Patch decided it was time to sit down and talk to the businesses one on one.

and both discussed their dissatisfaction with the closure; however, this week's guest has a different take on the closure.

Limerick-Royersford-Spring City Patch had a chance to speak with Kathi Thim of , which has been in the area for the past seven years, to hear what she has to say about business and the bridge.

LRSC Patch: How has the bridge closure affected your business?

Kathi Thim: Like everyone else. I’d be a liar if I said it hasn’t slowed it down. It’s not quite as bad as I thought it was going to be. I notice it more during the day – people coming home from work seem to be more willing to go out of their way to make it around. The only sad thing is I had three customers so far that weren’t familiar with the area and took the 15-mile hike – the 15-mile detour they make you go on.

It hasn’t been as bad. Everybody seems to understand, and I think the businesses have this attitude too, this was a necessary evil. It had to be done. The bridge was falling down. In the long run, we went from a 10-year tear-down repair to a 25-year tear-down repair. It’s a good thing. For 25 years, we know this bridge is going to be standing. So, I don’t like it, I wish the state had told us in May that they were going to do this. June 1 came along when it was supposed to happen and the state said it wasn’t going to happen until the 15th. That came and went and everybody started panicking. They knew since May that there was a darn good chance they were going to get the money and this was a whole different game and they didn’t have the decency to tell anybody. If people wanted to run specials, warn people, do anything… They gave no notice. I’m more angry with the state than the fact that the bridge is being done.

Patch: So, is that the most frustrating thing for you – that there was no communication?

Thim: It is for me, yes. They weren’t truthful from start to finish. When they knew sometime in May that this was going to happen, I think they should have had the decency to tell everyone that this was the actual game plan.

Patch: What were you feeling when you knew this was the actual game plan and that this was all going to take place?

Thim: Frustrated but I didn’t crash the meeting and stuff like everyone else. I had seen the email from the state. Spring City didn’t tell anybody and I don’t know if Royersford did. There was no reason to go to that meeting. It was a done deal by then. All we could do is just hope for the best. I wasn’t in fear that I would end up closing my business. I’m in here for the long haul; I’m not going anywhere. But there were a couple of businesses that wouldn’t make it through this, we knew that. It’s sad but it’s necessary. It’s hard to be angry when you know it’s a necessary thing – that in the long run, they’ll be done, they’ll be out of our hair, we won’t have to worry about the brick falling through anymore – this is a done deal.

The nice thing is even though the guys from the state are saying the 18th, the guys from the bridge are swearing it’s going to be done by the first day of school. We are counting on that. That will be disappointment if it doesn’t happen the 29th.

Patch: Any other thoughts on the bridge?

Thim: Not really. Like I said, I’m just happy they’re doing it the proper way. I think it’s a lot of money to spend on a little, tiny bridge, but if they tore it down, every single one of us on this side would go out of business because we have nothing to draw people over here. We don’t have a Kohl’s, we don’t have a Target, we don’t have anything over here. We have nothing.

I was here in 2005 when they closed it down. That was the longest month and a half of my entire life. I never read so many books in my life.

Patch: Are you doing anything special as far as deals or promotions?

Thim: Not at all. At this point, in my type of business, it’s like going to a dentist. They either like you and don’t go anywhere else, or they’re not going to come until it’s over with. You can’t buy people’s loyalties, I’m just running business as usual.

Patch: Now in prior conversation you had expressed other concerns. Would you like to express those now?

Thim: This light on Bridge Street and Main Street – the one that comes down Bridge Street and ties the traffic up every day. When things are good, it ties the traffic up. But when they’re working on something that takes it down to one lane, traffic goes way beyond Wawa at 724. They need to go to the state to get the light changed because it’s a state light. The one from Main Street has an arrow that turns them and they’re allowed to turn on red. The people coming down Bridge Street have no way of getting through. [Borough Manager Dennis] Rittenhouse’s main excuse for not approaching the state is because we don’t have enough money to get a traffic study done. The state turned loose a traffic study when they closed down the bridge. Right there is your traffic study.

I asked one of the council guys, ‘Okay, you’ve got your study. Why isn’t anyone trying to get these lights situated?’ Then they say it’s too much paperwork and nobody knows who to approach at the state. Is there a better time than right now? You’ve got the state right there on the bridge. You have access to those people. You have a state study done.

You can talk to any business around here. That is one of the biggest problems coming down into Spring City is this stupid light that holds you up forever even when they were doing a fabulous job on the flagging for the bridge, you couldn’t get past the light. I don’t understand who you approach. Can we as business owners approach the state? Who does it and says we need help on this? That’s bothering me more than the bridge and this has been going on since I got here. You’ve got a perfect thing with no cars coming down and the state being here. The study said there’s 17,000 cars. Why won’t anyone do anything about the light? None of us know what to do. Rittenhouse has been approached and he’s ignored it.