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About six weeks after Riverside dismayed some county residents by closing part of Dufferin Avenue, city and county officials say they're working to get a planned alternate route built as quickly as possible.

But no one knows yet how much it would cost to build "Street A," or how soon it could be done. Street A, which would connect McAllister Parkway to Van Buren Boulevard, was planned as part of developments that were never built because of the recession.

Residents just outside the city limits, who once used Dufferin, have continued to push for a solution to the closure. They say it's a public safety concern, and an inconvenience that has them so riled that they've quit shopping in Riverside.

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William Wilson Lewis III / The Press-Enterprise

Riverside Metro Bob Fitzgerald, 83, is one of 40 Riverside County citizens who has protested the closure of Dufferin Avenue. Residents in the area have launched a "Shop Corona" campaign to protest the closing.

The Riverside City Council voted in July to close a short leg of Dufferin just off McAllister Parkway, saying the traffic is detrimental to the city's citrus greenbelt.

City officials said at the time that homes in the unincorporated area bordering the greenbelt are much higher density than the city would have allowed, and that traffic studies showed up to seven cars a minute were using Dufferi.

Bonnie Salazar, who lives at the corner of Stewart Street and Dufferin Avenue, has waited a long time for the road closure, which she said was supposed to happen six years ago. For her and others who had to deal with large amounts of traffic on a street that wasn't equipped for it, she said, the closure has been a relief.

"I think that we still have a few people that honk when they go by, and I know they're unhappy, but they didn't have a freeway in front of their house," Salazar said.

However, county residents in subdivisions south of McAllister say it made things worse for them.

Alicia Hoyer, a county resident who organized a community meeting on the issue in August, said she's worried because her son needed medical attention in May, and ambulances and fire trucks have typically gotten to her neighborhood through Dufferin.

The city promised to install emergency access gates when the street closure was approved, but that won't be done until permanent changes are made to Dufferin. The work should be done by December, said Tom Boyd, the city's deputy public works director. For now, temporary barriers block the street.

Instead of taking it quietly, some county residents have been pressing city and county elected officials to find a solution -- reopen Dufferin for now, build Street A, or extend Stewart Street to connect to McAllister Parkway.

Residents also have opted to vote with their wallets, launching a "Shop Corona" campaign once they learned the city planned to close the street.

County resident Jerry Close said he buys his woodworking supplies at a Corona store instead of the Lowe's in Riverside, and he doesn't spend money at the Galleria on Tyler any more.

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"I don't think I've bought anything in Riverside in probably four or five months," he said. "I always liked Riverside; I always cared about it, but they don't care about us."

Riverside Councilman Chris Mac Arthur said he hasn't heard from businesses about a loss of customers.

But Myong Kim, who owns a dry cleaning shop at Van Buren Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue, said she's seen a drop in customers lately. When asked about the street closure, she pulled out a flier residents had passed out.

"Business really, really is down right now," Kim said.

At a nearby Albertson's grocery store, "They have seen fewer of their regular customers," spokeswoman Lilia Rodriguez said.

Whatever the effect of residents' protests, officials now say they're pushing to build Street A.

"The city wants this road finished. The county wants this road finished," Mac Arthur said. "We just need to find a way to get it done."

Supervisor Bob Buster, who represents the county residents, will hold a meeting Sept. 24 about the issue. He said Street A may cost as little as half of its $4 million estimate, and the cost could be reimbursed by the developer.

"There's still important pieces that have to fall into place, and we can't guarantee all of them," Buster said.

Officials say the emergency access gate on Dufferin and construction of Street A should resolve the issue, but some county residents may not be satisfied.

Close said he will campaign against elected officials who supported the closure. And in the meantime, he'll continue to exercise his buying power.

During a phone interview, someone advertising a tree service brought a flier to Close's door. He read it and said, "He's in Riverside. That goes in the trash."

Real Man of CA 6:27PM September 06, 2009