The weather was frightful when Rob Lucheme parked his car in the Arcade garage in Middletown near his shop, Tschudin Chocolate, last winter.
Salt on the garage deck above evidently mixed with the concrete to create a confection completely unlike what Lucheme serves up.
"It kinda put a nice layer on the car and it was totalled," he said, "Yep. Totalled."
He has a new car now thanks to the city's insurance. It's one of the reasons the city government has blocked off up to 40 spaces in the Arcade garage, which was built in 1965.
"We hired a structural engineer to come and look at it," said Geen Thazhampallath, the city's parking services director. "We have no question that the garage will not collapse. It's perfectly safe in that condition, but we want to make the steps to make sure that it has life and continued use in the safest way possible."
He said city council members are to consider whether to make repairs or demolish the garage and build a new one.
Middletown has a federal grant of $6.9 million to build a new garage, but the city would need to borrow up to $5 million to do it, which would require a referendum.
