Caroline Thomi isn’t happy about the city handing her a code violation for signs that have been in the windows of her Walnut Hill and Audelia shop for years, but says she is sympathetic the city’s concerns. "We want store windows to be neat and uncluttered; we don’t want trash in our windows," Thomi says.
Some of the intent of the new code regulations adopted in 2008 were also aimed at allowing police to be able to see inside a business’s windows, Thomi says, and she understands that, too, but believes the city is going about it in the wrong way. She said as much when she showed up at City Hall Jan. 9, and signed up for three minutes to speak her mind. Mayor Tom Leppert and Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway asked her "a lot of questions," she says, and then requested that she meet them outside of council chambers. Thomi recalls that they shook her hand, and agreed with her that the rules needed some tweaking and revisions. She says Caraway told her he would visit her store the next day talk about it; he called the following day and told her he couldn’t make it and would reschedule, Thomi says.
"I’ve called him every day since Jan. 9," Thomi says, adding that she has spoken with his assistant each time, and "we’re kinda gettin’ to be best friends now."
I have a call into Caraway’s office to see whether he plans to reschedule his visit. More on some of the questions neighbors have had on grandfathering and such, after the jump:
Even though the AAA Vacuum shop has been around since 1981, and the signage for pretty much the same amount of time, the signs cannot be grandfathered in, Thomi says: "No grandfather, no concession, no nothing – you just follow the rules or …"
Of course, the main thing that upsets her about the city regulations is their effect on her business’s ability to advertise to people driving by. All businesses are facing hard times these days, she says, and hers support seven families. "It’s important to be able to put a sign in our windows to say, hey, we sell vacuums here." (In March 2007, long before the recession emerged, we interviewed Caroline’s son, Mark, for a story on neighborhood mom-and-pop shops and how they stay competitive.)
But it also pains her to see that most of the small businesses affected by the new code regulations are owned by immigrants. Thomi says she watched four City Code Enforcement vehicles "zoom into that little center across the street like police. There are only four or five businesses there, and they don’t even face the street. A lot of people are foreigners, and they’re so intimidated by the city."
Thomi says she never did find out whether someone reported that her business was violating city codes, or whether city code enforcement officials noted her violation during routine inspections.
