I don't understand why this wasn't done before they started constructing the Purple Line light rail

Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times. DISCUSSION: Construction inspector John J. Lowry III discusses the Gold Line project with business owner Victor Duran (2007).

The Purple Line is a light rail program in Suburban Maryland's Prince George's and Montgomery Counties.

According to an Action Alert from the advocacy group Purple Line Now:

We wanted to alert you to HB 540, a bill that Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins (Montgomery County, District 20) has introduced regarding the State Income and Property Tax Credits – Purple Line Construction Zone.

The House Ways and Means Committee will hear the bill THIS Thursday, February 20, at 1 pm.

The bill allows “certain qualified businesses impacted by the construction of the Purple Line light rail project in Montgomery County and Prince George's County a credit against the State income tax and State property tax; requiring the Department of Transportation to determine the eligible amount of the income tax credit; making the income tax credit refundable; requiring the Department to administer the income tax credit; requiring the Department to make determinations and implement processes relevant to certifying qualified businesses.”

It's a massive failure to not build in programs like this during the planning phase--pre-construction--of transit infrastructure programs. Typically, it's been done for highway construction programs for decades.  And it's not like people in the industry don't know this is going to come up.

-- "Analyzing Effects of Highway Rehabilitation on Businesses," Transportation Research Record, 1993
-- "Gold Line work upsets East L.A. merchants," Los Angeles Times, 2007
-- "7 Tips for When Road Construction Affects Your Business," Inc Magazine
-- Mitigating Construction Impacts on Local Businesses, MnDOT
-- Mitigation of Transportation Construction Impacts on Business, City of Tucson
-- "How to Keep Construction from Killing Businesses," Governing Magazine. 2014

Instead of being reactive once people start complaining, be proactive.