You read in the news that businesses in the Somerset/Bank area are doing poorly because of the road closures and barricades set up around the Somerset House building, which the City claims is structurally unsound.
But yesterday, when I got some items from Hartman's grocery store, it was packed. Shoppers not only had to deal with the road closures, but also the 20-40 centimetres of snow on the ground, too.
"About a half-dozen local business owners" staged a protest on November 24th on the City's inaction. And even though "about a half-dozen" means five-to-seven, they managed to score a 440-word article in the Citizen, complete with photo. Many protests with far more participants and better coordination barely get any mention (much less a photo) in the Citizen.
Looking closely at that photo, the lady with the bullhorn is not a "local business owner", but homeless advocate Jane Scharf, who I strongly doubt was protesting the same thing.
While the owner of the building might have cut a lot of corners (perhaps all of them), it would be a lot cheaper for him to tear it down. His resistance to tearing it down shows how highly he values the charismatic 105-year-old building. It is far more attractive than any box of bricks that could replace it, and it would be a shame to let it go for others' impatience.
- RG>
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
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The business in the area are DEFINITELY hurting.
Hartman's is lucky that they're the only major grocery store in the vicinity -- there's nowhere else to go so they're not losing business.
As for Scharf showing up - whether she is there or not, the stores & services in the area are hurting.
Bank St. between Somerset & O'Connor is full of businesses (restaurants, hair salons, etc.) that rely on WALK-IN customers. Not a lot of walk-in when the street is closed.
The dollar store (?) that replaced big bud's is losing MILLIONS because they can't open at all.
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