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No respect for business owners

The Editor, While the Evergreen Line is being built, merchants on North Road have lost their parking. Any loss of revenue of this nature would have been disastrous for us, had it happened while we were in business.

The Editor,

While the Evergreen Line is being built, merchants on North Road have lost their parking. Any loss of revenue of this nature would have been disastrous for us, had it happened while we were in business. This is a repeat of the ridiculous situation, when merchants on Cambie Street lost a lot of income while the Canada Line was under construction.

When land is needed for a pipeline, the owners get compensated. When new roads need to be built, all concerned may expect compensation. Hollywood North makes arrangements during their movie shoots.

I even recall a homeless person who demanded compensation from the movie company for loss of income because his "customers" needed to use the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street.

City management should be commended if they were on a mission to treat taxpayer money with a little more respect and reduced their ever-increasing spending habits. However, singling out and bankrupting taxpaying merchants will clearly not serve anybody. Whenever infrastructure of this nature is contemplated it should include compensation for those negatively effected. It was successfully done in Seattle. It should never prompt court actions which, I am sure, the merchants must consider at this point.

Ziggy Eckardt

Burnaby