LEWISTON — Downtown merchants and residents pushed the City Council on Tuesday to do a better job of clearing snow along the increasingly busy upper Lisbon Street.

“When snowbanks get higher, we need to find ways to let people get over the snowbanks,” said Rainbow Bicycle owner John Grenier. “We’ve all seen people in dress clothes, people in heels getting out of their car just holding tight and trying to make room for another car going by because the snowbanks are so high.”

Councilors hosted a public hearing on the proposed 2016-17 budget Tuesday night, but most of the comments focused on getting Public Works crews out more often to haul away snow drifts in front of upper Lisbon Street businesses and restaurants.

Led by Dostie Jewelry owner Michael Dostie, a group of 16 urged councilors to leave room in the budget for better snow removal on Lisbon Street, where so much private investment is centered.

“The snow removal plan we have now works for Lewiston’s downtown 20 years ago, when there were less than a handful of businesses down there,” Dostie said. “But it does not work for a growing epicenter of small business and commercial development.”

From Fuel to Argo Marketing, property owners said bad snow removal reflects poorly on a city that’s trying to present itself as upscale.

Allen Smith, owner of Forage Market and the Ellard Building, told two stories Tuesday. While this past winter was relatively mild, the previous year’s snow nearly drove him out of business.

“Clearly, not all of that was due to snow removal,” he said. “But it did nearly sink us and put us out of business and the weather is a very important factor for us.”

His cafe recovered, and Smith said he was baking bread in his basement kitchen when a curious, well-dressed customer stopped in.

“After we talked for a while, he said, ‘You must be the owner,’ and I said, ‘Yep’,” Smith said. “He said, ‘This is the kind of business I look for. I’m an investor and I am here looking at mill buildings to invest in. When I see a business like this, specifically if it’s independently owned, I know this is a good place to invest money.'”

The lesson, Smith said, is Lewiston’s downtown businesses are key to developing the city in the future.

“I do think that what we do downtown is very valuable to the city, increasing revenues,” he said. “What we do attracts more investment.”

Merchants are proposing the city swap a nighttime bulldozer operator from the city’s snow dump to a seven-person night crew dedicated to clearing the downtown.

Councilors said the city’s Public Works Committee would review the proposal Wednesday and report back to councilors.

“”We need to protect the people who come downtown to work or to play or to eat. I want to say,” Councilor Jolene Beam said, “I think we have a proposal that could solve all of our problems, and I’m ecstatic.”

Mayor Robert Macdonald said it’s a long-deserved idea.

“For the last couple of years, I’ve asked to have the downtown plowed, and I can’t believe this,” Macdonald said. “You are really in partnership with us, making a lot of investments with your money. It’s up to us to make investments to make sure the downtown is clear.”

Councilors will continue to review the city’s proposed $44.4 million spending plan next week.

A PDF version of the full budget should be available on the finance department section of the city’s website, www.lewistonmaine.gov. Printed copies are also available at the Lewiston Public Library and at the City Clerk’s office.

staylor@sunjournal.com