By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER EAST SIDE — Business owners on the path of the Second Avenue subway construction said Tuesday that the MTA should throw some of the money being doled out to displaced residents in their direction.
Local businesses said that the extra signs that the MTA gave them to advertise their stores isn't nearly a good a deal as the one offered to displaced residents — which includes footing the bill for an extended hotel stay or providing a hefty one-month rent stipend — and demanded the MTA at least provide them larger signs, or television ads.
"The government has taken care of the residents around here, why not the merchants?" said Fidel Tlatelpa, 41, manager of New York Kitchen restaurant at 1812 Second Avenue.
"We want to keep this a commercial street," Tlatelpa added.
Despite the disruption to their foot traffic, the businesses were not eligible to receive financial help from the MTA because they were not required to move as a result of the subway construction, said Aaron Donovan, spokesman for the agency.
"There's no business that we're saying must leave," Donovan said.
The MTA decided to place residents at the Maramara Hotel at 301 East 94th Street, in part so they could patronize nearby businesses like Nick's Family Style Restaurant and Pizzeria.
"It's something," said Nick Petrou, 28, manager of the restaurant, of the MTA's decision. "But they can't even see us."
Petrou pointed to a scaffold and construction shaft in front of his front door as evidence of the problems his business had getting customers these days.
Short of a tax-break, small-business owners along the subway construction said clear sidewalks, visible signage and the project's completion will all help them survive the project.
The owners of Yo Yo Nails and Spa next door to Tlatelpa's restaurant at 1812 Second Avenue said they gambled on the subway's completion when they opened up shop two months ago.
When the subway construction is completed, the salon will benefit from being next to a subway entrance, said Allen Wang, 19, co-owner of the shop.
But for now, instead of steady traffic from a subway station, Yo Yo faces a construction shed.
"We just need them to finish as fast as possible," Wang said
