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Photo: Susan Heyes, left, and Abby Palmer are among Cambie Street merchants who have long insisted that RAV construction will wreck the local economy -- and their predictions have turned out to be right on the money.

Vancouver, BC (Wednesday, May 30, 2007) -- According to a story in Monday's Globe and Mail, ". . .commerce is dying along Cambie Street, done in by the dust, noise and massive disruption from construction of the largest infrastructure project in B.C. history, the Canada Line to the airport.

"The deep ditch for the $1.9-billion transit line is being dug right up the middle of the road, complete with concrete barriers, large steel fences, a maze of closed off roads and sidewalks and enormous earth-moving machines, all of which have virtually marooned affected businesses for months.

"Last night, the agreeable Tomato Fresh Food Cafe at 17th Avenue and Cambie served its last meal after 17 years as a neighbourhood institution."

Don Don Noodles, just up the street, will be shutting down next month, also after 17 years in business.

Across the way, the Sate Satu is no longer open for lunch "during this very difficult time;" the once-busy Cafe Gloucester has been "temporarily" closed since last month; while several other businesses in the same block have given up entirely, their storefronts vacant. They join dozens of small operations all along Cambie that previously folded or moved. Shop owners who do remain say their revenue is down 30 to 50 per cent, and they are hanging on by their fiscal fingertips.

Yesterday, many gathered along the hemmed-in street to give their impassioned support to a private member's bill, to be introduced in the legislature today by local NDP MLA Gregor Robertson, calling for tax relief and emergency loans for the beleaguered merchants.

Is there a mess that cannot be denied? According to Sue Heyes, "They are cleaning our shop windows for us now, which should tell you something."

As long ago as 2005, merchants were expressing concerns -- that apparently went unheard. "I'm very frustrated with the level of transparency on this whole project," said the same Susan Heyes, owner of Hazel and Co., a maternity and women's clothing store at Cambie and 16th Avenue.

"We're getting no straight answers, and the proposed mitigation they are offering, like street banners, is like curtains on the Titanic”.

She made the comments to reporters after questioning officials at a recent public meeting that discussed plans for the controversial cut-and-cover method of building an underground line along Cambie.

Today -- now that construction is underway -- it's no different. "We had no concept the impact of the construction would be as severe as it is," said Dale Dubberly, who runs a Thai restaurant on the street. "We are losing about one business a week."

At one point, said Ms. Dubberly, her restaurant was hemmed in on all four sides. "There was no way to get off the street and I had a heck of a time getting home."

Illustration courtesy of Geoff Olsen.

She said her business had improved every year since she opened up 10 years ago. "This is the first time in history our sales have gone down, and they're down 30 to 40 per cent."

Susan Heyes added that said traffic patterns are a never-ending mystery along the street.

"Roads open. Roads close. You don't know from one day to the next what to expect. And who wants to walk along a street with big dump trucks rolling by just inches away?" Ms. Heyes complained. "This has had a huge impact on our neighbourhood. We are all devastated and depressed."

Susan Heyes went on to emphasize: We were originally told construction would take 'two to three months.' Now it looks a lot more like two to three years."

Merchants said they were originally told that blocks would be disrupted for no longer than three months at a time, as the line was dug. But so far, the disruption has lasted six months "and the big dig hasn't even started yet," one store owner said.

"I can't imagine a scenario where my business would survive this without financial help," said Heyes, who has operated her company for 22 years and is a member of the citizens' group known as Do RAV Right. "A pregnant woman would have to be highly motivated to want to come anywhere near this district.

"You're not going to sit outside cafés, you're not going to go and rent a movie or have take-out food. It's going to be a disaster. And where are all the cars going to go? People who live in the neighbourhood are going to have cars darting down their side-streets non-stop."

Today, Sue Heyes told evalu8.org: "I applaud Gregor Robertson for openly acknowledging in the legislature the hardship being caused by this project, and the need for compensation. The devastation is now obvious all along the Line. I think this was a glory project for the Liberal government so they could get the Olympics in the first place.

"I just reviewed a letter that I sent to Jody Shimkas at the environmental assessment office and those points [written in May, 2005] are all still valid. I can't understand how they ever got an environmental certificate, when the impact study was done for a bored tunnel project, and it became cut-and-cover without any further review.

"It's obvious that we were misled. We were always told it was to be a bored-tunnel and clearly that's not true.

"Most of all, I think [the bill] has legitimized the concerns of the small businesses. They've all been tiptoeing around the idea that any compensation will be setting a bad precedent for the future. But the point here is it would be so easy to limit the offer of full compensation to projects in excess of $2 billion lasting over two years. Big corporations are going to be reaping benefits in the hundreds of millions, at our expense. I'm sick about having to admit that I re-mortgaged my house to continue to prop up my business -- but I did what I had to do to keep going.

"I saw one woman in tears the other day, trying to push a stroller with one hand and holding another child by the other hand -- walking her children to school. The curb actually runs right into the road, and her stroller was pushed into the road, just as a dump truck and a bus went by. I held my breath. I keep thinking someone will get hit by one of these trucks, there's so little room.

"The idea they are promoting is that there will be a windfall for us when it’s completed. The truth is that we are eight blocks from the nearest station, and many of us have demolition clauses in our leases. Even if we manage to survive this big dig for the next two years, the very buildings we are now in have been re-zoned, and will be slated for development. We'll all be gone.

We counted four places closed between 25th and 7th on Cambie long before the digging ever started. The first crisis happened in November of 2005 when the digging first began at Little Mountain, and the traffic was diverted. Today -- that we know of -- I think there are 32 closures. Unfortunately some people have opened in these abandoned spots -- many have English as a second language, and may not be fully aware of what they are in for.

"I was enjoying success, after all these years of effort. Now the value of all those years of work has been taken away -- I would have a hard time selling my businesses under present circumstances. We're being bullied. Out of desperation, yes, I am suing all parties involved in this project. And this project has deep pockets. They knew how devastating the design change to cut-and-cover would be, and kept it a well-guarded secret. This project would never have gone forward if the whole truth was known.

The bottom line is that it's wrong and it's unfair and compensation should have been factored in from the beginning. There will never be another circumstance like this again. When I call it 'The Perfect Storm for retail,' I'm not exaggerating. Every penny that goes through my cash register is fully accounted for, so when they say that compensation can't be quantified, it absolutely can."

Abby Palmer, owner of the Gardening Circle gift shop once on Cambie near 17th Avenue, dismissed RAVCO's and other merchants' suggestions of construction-site tours and coupons for construction workers as ways to support businesses while RAV is being built.

"It's laughable, some of the suggestions that they're coming up with, as a way of trying to keep people in business," said Palmer, who opened her shop seven months ago. "It's going to be too little, too late." Abby made the difficult decision to re-locate her business to Fort Langley, where she is now thriving.

Canada Line officials could not be reached for comment yesterday. RAVCO, the organization co-ordinating RAV's construction, its parent group TransLink and the City of Vancouver have refused to provide compensation, based on a policy not to pay businesses for construction-related disruptions.

The Expo and Millennium SkyTrain lines, Cambie Street bridge reconstruction, Cassiar Street connector near the Pacific National Exhibition grounds, Granville Mall -- which was closed to traffic on a permanent basis -- are just a few of many transportation projects which did not result in compensation for businesses.

However, the city of Delta compensated merchants recently when a street improvement project caused the businesses to be disrupted.

"When you're building a project of this size in a growing city, there will be construction impacts," said Jane Bird, RAVCO's chief executive.

"It's just a fact of life."

Property manager Don Watters said he has cut rents by 50 per cent for the 22 businesses he manages along Cambie Street "and they are still losing money. ... I did a survey. Their total estimated revenue loss was more than $1-million a month."

Mr. Robertson's private member's bill would offer compensation to businesses affected by Canada Line construction equivalent to the annual property tax on their property. It would also make interest-free loans available to help tide enterprises over until the line is completed.

Laura Jones of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business strongly endorsed the bill.

"Its fair, and it's the right thing to do."

She said small businesses along Cambie are being asked to make a totally disproportionate financial sacrifice, given that tens of thousands of riders will use the Canada Line every day. "They are being dealt a body blow by this construction."

The Globe report concludes: "Meanwhile, an emotional Simon Kim is preparing to end the Don Don noodle shop business his parents began on Cambie Street 17 years ago.

"Any help will be too late for me. I have to cut my losses and find a job," he said, tears filling his eyes. "It was a great community village here, but business just dropped too much. I'm heartbroken."