The PR firm now handling Augusta’s Broad Street overhaul got an earful at a Monday listening session.
Megan Paquin, founder of Paquin Public Relations, came aboard very recently to improve communications surrounding the ongoing overhaul of Broad Street downtown after business owners expressed concerns the massive construction project will harm their businesses.
Paquin holds a Ph.D. in business psychology. She’s also experienced in crisis communications, relaying the 2022 message that the XPR Masters Week concert was on hold due to structural deficiencies at Lake Olmstead Stadium.
Engineering and Environmental Services Director Hameed Malik said the department has done its best to meet merchants’ concerns, increasing what were 430 parking spaces along Broad in the new design to around 600. The emergency procurement, going for committee review Tuesday, will cost the city up to $315,000.
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“I heard you all about the communication and that’s why we brought this firm in,” he said.
Currently the work is focused on the James Brown linear park in the 800 block of Broad Street, he said. Construction will then move into the 13th Street median, then to 12th and 11th streets, he said.
After a quick preview of new signage and other communications the firm hopes to provide, Paquin asked the standing-room-only crowd at the Beazley Room at Augusta Municipal Building to provide feedback, and many did.
Several business owners said they still lack essential details. Miller Theater director David Watts said he has “no idea what’s happening in front of my theater” or whether he needs to plan alternate entrances.
Many attended Monday’s meeting expecting answers to their questions, Watts said.
Book Tavern owner David Hutchison asked whether bike lane renderings shown were accurate, pointing to conflicting information from recently resigned city staff. He described downtown as a “dystopian landscape” after trees were removed and blocks torn up, one by one, adding that each step of construction brought visibly fewer visitors.
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Historic Augusta director Erick Montgomery noted that the project encompasses at least six downtown streets, while residents see it as one large disruption. “You’re already tearing up Broad Street but you don’t have a plan for the adjacent streets?” he asked.
Morris Communications’ Reab Berry asked how individuals who don’t live or work downtown will be apprised of construction impacts. He also suggested providing realtime status updates on project completion and spending.
“What are we going to do to reach out to the broader community to make sure that people who are not in downtown a lot can get to the parts of downtown that are open?” he asked.
Commissioner Catherine Smith Rice said the project might be served by posting images of the finished product, for the public to “see that this is going to be very nice when we get done.”
“If people can see what’s going to happen, maybe they won’t be so negative,” added Watts. “This is life or death for a lot of these venues, for a lot of these businesses.”
Paquin said her firm’s immediate focus is Broad Street but said she’d seek information about the other streest. She directed residents to send questions to augustadtp@augustaga.gov.
