New pavement new beginning for Union Street

LYNN – For the first time in 30 years, Union Street in downtown Lynn has a new pavement that is pot-hole free, and some longtime business owners in the area say the change could bring them more customers while enhancing a slowly improving reputation of the troubled downtown thoroughfare.Almost ? of a mile of the road, starting at Central Square, was paved in a fresh black coat of asphalt on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, as part of a deal the city signed with National Grid when the utility company dug up the street to install underground cables last year.National Grid paid for the re-pavement and will spend the next few weeks painting traffic lines on the road and planting trees, said Manny Alcantara, the director of Lynn’s public works department.As cars glided on the smooth asphalt on a sweltering Thursday afternoon, longtime Union Street business owner Myrsini Kolokithas reflected on all the changes the street has gone through.Kolokithas has owned John’s Upholstery on Union Street with her husband, John, for 41 years. Until recently, she spent the past decade driving to many of her customers instead of inviting them to the shop because of the crime in the neighborhood.”People couldn’t come to the store because there’s too many people in the streets,” she said, referencing prostitutes and gangs that have plagued the street and much of downtown Lynn.But Kolokithas said all that has started changing for the better over the past three or four years and the newly paved road can only help improve the reputation of Union Street.”Now it’s nice,” she said.A few blocks down, another longtime business owner agreed with Kolokithas. Seacey Pazaetes has owned George’s Pizza with her husband, George, for 42 years.”It looks beautiful and is nice for the neighborhood,” she said of the road.Pazaetes and Kolokithas recall fondly 25 years ago when Union Street was booming with a movie theater and large shops. When those businesses shuttered, crime filtered in, they said. For whatever reason – perhaps more police presence, Kolokithas said – that’s begun to change.”It’s changing for the better,” Pazaetes said.But Ming Guo, the owner of Charlie Chan’s Chinese Restaurant on the corner of Smith and Union streets, doubts that assessment.He has posted “No loitering” and “Police take notice” signs outside his store to keep homeless people from hanging around outside his business.”We have a problem, especially on Union Street,” he said.Chan said it’s going to take more than a nicely paved road to fix that.”The city and the police definitely have to do some work on Union Street,” he said. “A road is not going to help them.”Truc Huynh, the owner of Pho Minh Ky, a Vietnamese restaurant near Silsbee and Union streets, doesn’t focus on the crime in the area as much as the number of customers who walk in her door.Before, the condition of Union Street “was bad, very bad,” she said. Now, she hopes the improvement will encourage more people to drive and walk on Union Street, potentially drawing more customers to her store.”I think parking will be easier, people walk around. It’s better,” she said.Union Cleaners owner Isabel Hernandez said it’s only natural that nicer conditions bring more business.”People prefer to be where the roads are better,” she said.Alcantara said Union Street won’t be the only downtown road to get a facelift this year. National Grid crews are working on Broad and Lewis streets and are expected to repave those roads after they finish in November. Around the same time, the city will repave several smaller roads that pour into Union Street, he said.All that is good news for 10-year Lynn resident Wilson Cruz, who attends St. Joseph’s Church on Union Street. He said the new pavement is a tremendous improvement.”People come from different cities into Lynn and for some reason, they want to see Union Street, and we never felt good showing them what was there. Now we are proud to show the city to the people,” he said.Amber Parcher can be reached a