Zionsville businesses face dilemma during red travel warning
By Maggie Smith
For a small business, weather closings are costly. So what’s the rule when there is a red travel warning? The issue sparked debate on Facebook.
At 12:13 p.m. on Jan. 7, the Town of Zionsville posted that the Boone County Commissioners and the Emergency Management Agency extended the red travel warning to 10 p.m. According to the EMA, travel is restricted to emergency management workers only during a red travel warning.
But some local businesses were sending the opposite message on their Facebook pages.
Greek’s Pizzeria on Main Street posted, “Stop by and get some warm pizza and a cup of hot chocolate.”
Ballerinas and Bruisers posted Jan. 6 that it would be open Jan. 7, with no mention of the travel ban. “We’re open … roads downtown Z-ville are passable/plowed … open stores and restaurants have shoveled sidewalks … drive safe … our West Carmel, Westfield and Zionsville neighbors who have come in are grateful that we’re open and expressed their appreciation as their bans have been lifted!!”
On the City of Zionsville’s Facebook page, residents were asking questions. Jennifer McKinzie wrote, “Curious how many businesses are open in downtown Zionsville? I know Ballerinas and Bruisers has been actively encouraging mothers to come out with their children for shopping and hot chocolate. Very irresponsible! That’s where ticketing should occur.”
Allison Murphy Martin agreed. “I, too, feel it is irresponsible of local businesses to be promoting they are open and asking people to come and shop. The travel warning should be taken seriously and free up our law enforcement for true emergencies, not people getting out because of cabin fever and getting stuck.”
So what’s the rule — or the law — when it comes to businesses staying open during red travel warnings? The City of Zionsville said people driving could be ticketed. Would businesses be ticketed?
Jeff Papa, Zionsville Town Council said, “There was a county warning not to travel, and all law enforcement had the discretion to cite anyone who violated it … complying with the travel ban while it’s in effect is extremely important, and the town strongly supports that type of advisory. Businesses can choose to be open, and of course those nearby may be able to reach them on foot, but (people) traveling (by vehicle) should realize they are violating the travel warning and should be prepared to explain to a law enforcement officer a very, very good reason why they should not be cited.”
According to Julie Johns-Cole, Executive Director of the Zionsville Chamber of Commerce, “We encourage our businesses and residents to observe restrictions or advisories issued by our local and state agencies. However, we do acknowledge the challenges that our businesses face when they are unable to open for a day or two. Small business owners rely on the income they generate daily and they don’t receive a paid vacation day or paid time off,” Cole said. Cole’s husband, Mike, who owns and manages Greek’s Pizzeria, opened that business during the ban.
Some businesses said they stayed open to serve emergency needs.
“We were open only because we knew that we might have what someone needed to fix whatever might have gone wrong during the storm … like being able to get the gas line to fix your snow blower or a small space heater to save your pipes,” stated Leigh Ann Akard of Akard’s True Value Hardware.
Ballerinas and Bruisers responded to complaints with a post on Facebook.“For those Ballerinas and Bruisers inquiries…….We appreciate the feedback from our followers expressing their concern for patrons’ safety. We were fortunate to be able to travel safely to the store and with the hard work by the Town’s crews, Main Street is passable with one’s common sense and cautionary driving. We don’t consider anything in our store worth putting folks in peril over but for those who are adventurous enough, who are no longer on bans and needed a break from their cabin fever, we gladly opened our doors to them. We respect the wishes of others to not come out today and are happy that we helped support the other businesses/restaurants who were open today as none of us get ‘paid time off’. We do as do and do the best with what we can to serve our customers. Be safe and stay warm! — at Ballerinas and Bruisers.”
The power of social media
In addition to travel warnings and bad weather, businesses have to manage social media during the Internet age. It is a valuable tool that provides free advertising for businesses and serves as a vehicle to build a sense of community. However, it can be as problematic as it is powerful. The power of social media for consumers is transparency. Should a business allow negative posts? From the following comments on Facebook, it appears the social media experts, such as Social Media Today, may be correct about the importance of transparency, responding to negative posts and using the delete/hide comment functions sparingly.
Jennifer McKinzie responded to a post by Carrie Schoenbaum, who mentioned the owner of Ballerinas and Busters might not have known the travel warning was extended. “Nope. He’s aware and doesn’t care. Deleted my FB post and then added his own that the store is open and roads are ‘passable,’” wrote McKinzie.
Current In Zionsville was monitoring social media and noticed the Ballerinas and Busters page didn’t show comments that Jamie Jorczek and Lori Michael had posted earlier in the day.
Jorczek had posted: “Wow, you must have some amazing items for sale if people are willing to violate a State Department of Homeland Security travel restriction just to shop in your store.”
Michael posted: “There is still a travel ban in place until 10 pm … Other Zionsville businesses are encouraging their customers to stay off the roads and stay safe. Very irresponsible.”
Social media experts counsel businesses to respond to all comments from followers and to delete/hide comments only when the comments use vulgar language or verbally disparage other people or businesses. Ultimately, social media are word-of-mouth on steroids — which can be good for business or bad.
What do you think? Should businesses delete negative Facebook posts? Should they stay open during a travel ban? Let us know your comments below.
