My first brush with the mess that has been made of downtown Wheeling was the evening before Thanksgiving, when I decided (as it seemed so many other former Wheeling residents had done just before the holiday) to go to a Wheeling Nailers hockey game. Getting to the arena, it was clear there was a LOT of work being done to the city’s streets and sidewalks. Trying to get home proved a challenge.

Thank goodness my GPS knew how to get me out of the city I had been driving in since I got my license.

The sprawling Downtown Streetscape Project may one day prove a boon to Wheeling, but right now it is a disaster, as it seems planners didn’t think very carefully about what gives the appearance of doing all the work at once.

Sections of streets are closed, sidewalks are broken up, crosswalks are gone … and downtown businesses are suffering.

Word has spread on the matter. A friend of mine who lives in Belpre knows I used to live in Wheeling and asked me the other day what in the world was going on up there. She’d been driving through town on a visit and had difficulty getting back out. Certainly she didn’t feel comfortable stopping at any of the small businesses and restaurants that are trying to survive there.

It’s a bad look, and incredibly damaging to the people who put their faith in a downtown location for their businesses. It seems absurd the communication and planning on these enormous projects was so poor as to not only cut off a significant number of the businesses already doing their best to keep their heads above water downtown, but to prolong the isolation to the degree that, as one downtown Wheeling business owner put it, “Once that final orange cone is gone, it’s not going to be a floodgate. It will take years to build back people’s trust in going to downtown Wheeling.”

That was David McFarland, owner of Mmm Popcorn. He is just one of several business owners who spoke with The Intelligencer in Wheeling about the problem.

To the city’s credit, Wheeling’s council is looking at a plan to help financially support these businesses. The question is whether that will be too little, too late.

“The tax breaks are great, but how do we survive now?” asked Tara Kobasko, owner of The Belgian Waffle Shop, according to a report by The Intelligencer.

Government isn’t going to be much immediate help in that regard.

It’s a painful lesson, and an example other cities hoping to jump on the road to prosperity with downtown (or other business district) improvements must avoid following at all costs.

Meticulous planning on such projects MUST include the impact of timelines on even the smallest of businesses. And if making improvements one small step at a time rather than all at once will keep those businesses open, it is worth the delay.

“We know it’s important, this is really an important project for the city of Wheeling,” said Mike Carl, whose family owns the newly renovated building that houses the Bridge Tavern, according to The Intelligencer. “This everything-all-at-once approach is just a nightmare. There has to be a sequence of events to maintain operations in downtown Wheeling …”

Again, it’s too late for Wheeling to go back now. But if it pains you to think about what is going to happen to these small retailers and restaurants if they can’t make money during the Christmas season, take the advice of Chef Matt Welsch, executive chef of West Virginia state parks, whose restaurant Vagabond Kitchen sits on a section of street that has been closed entirely.

When addressing the situation on social media, he answered the question on Ohio Valley residents’ minds — “How can we help?” — by saying simply “Come eat.”

It may take a little longer to get to them, but while business owners wait for government to literally get out of the way, those traveling to the area (for a little holiday shopping a few miles away, perhaps?) will have to make the effort to visit some of the shops and eateries. They will surely win you over once you’ve given them a try.

In the meantime, for goodness sake, let’s never, EVER, make such a mistake here in Parkersburg — or anywhere else in West Virginia. The cure for economic stagnation and deferred maintenance must not be worse than the disease.

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com