NEW ORLEANS — The sign in the window at Cleo's on Canal Street might say “open,” but it's hard to get customers in the doors these days, given the diner's location in the shadow of the Hard Rock Hotel.
Owner Terek Madkour can describe business the last few weeks in one word. “Dead,” he said.
The city is working with contractors, hired by the Hard Rock's owner, to try to get riverbound Canal Street open.
On Tuesday, crews showed up to begin piecing together one crane that will be used to stabilize the one still dangling above Canal Street.
The goal is to get more streets and businesses reopened before the partially-collapsed building is imploded sometime in mid-January.
FULL COVERAGE: Hard Rock hotel collapse: Investigation, Rescue & Recovery
That can't happen fast enough for Madkour.
“After 5 o'clock, nobody is on the street. Everybody is scared to come this route,” he said. “The streetcar is blocked.”
Shops along Canal businesses closed. The Saenger's doors have also been shut since the collapse on Oct. 12th. A covered walkway is being built along the North Rampart Street side of the building so the theater can open again in the coming weeks.
Hassan Salem's shop never closed, but he's still feeling the effects of the closed street.
“This is preventing people from coming to this area here. It's affecting business,” he said of both sides of Canal being closed at Rampart. “They're going to open this side here, but is it going to bring traffic? Are people going to be scared to walk? We're not sure.”
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