Business owners demand 'direct compensation' as Eglinton Crosstown LRT delays continue

Frustrated business owners are calling for "direct compensation" from the province after internal Metrolinx documents provided exclusively to CBC Toronto revealed a $1-billion increase in the cost of the Eglinton Crosstown project and no "credible plan" to complete ii.

"These types of infrastructure projects should not be built on the backs of small businesses," said Maureen Sirois, chair of the Eglinton Way Business Improvement Area.

She says her BIA, which represents about 200 businesses along a nine-block stretch of Eglinton Avenue West, has suffered through the decade-long project.

Sirois says the ongoing construction in the area, which has severely reduced parking and access to some shops, as well as delaying other projects the BIA wants to implement, has caused many businesses to lose revenue. Before this latest delay was announced, the line was slated to be up and running before the end of this year. Work began in 2011 and Metrolinx previously announced completion dates of 2020 and 2021.

"We think there should be direct compensation for the businesses and there's never been that conversation. We've always been told that that's simply not going to happen," she told CBC Toronto.

"So we're sitting here waiting, waiting, waiting and it's been 10 years."

Bernie Good, who owns St. Urbain Bagels just west of Bathurst Street, says the parking spots outside his shop, which have been inaccessible due to the ongoing construction, are instrumental in getting customers into his business.

"It's definitely affected the amount of people that are coming into the store."

He says there has been nothing in terms of compensation, tax breaks or loans due to the loss.

"I'm lucky I survived the 10 years," said Good. "But there are a lot of businesses that didn't."

Many other merchants and business improvement areas along Eglinton, including the Mount Dennis BIA and the Upper Village BIA, share the frustration.

"We all feel like we've been living through an ordeal that we thought was going to come to an end," said Cassandra Nicolaou, vice-chair of the Mount Dennis BIA.

Nicolaou says she conducted interviews for staff positions at SuperCoffee, a shop she's owned and operated for over eight years, during the summer because she thought the LRT would be open by now.

"I think it's completely disingenuous of them to announce last year an opening date of this fall."

While most welcome the LRT line, which will stretch 19 kilometres along Eglinton between Kennedy Station and Mount Dennis Station, many say they expected the project to be completed long ago.

"Everybody believes in transit. No one has ever said we don't want this. But get the job done and do it quickly," said Sirois.

On Friday afternoon, local city councillors Josh Matlow and Mike Colle said they would put a motion to council to open a public inquiry into the ongoing delays and ballooning costs.

"Metrolinx won't explain why they're [$7 billion] over budget, where the money's gone and they won't explain why they can't finish the job," said Colle, who represents Ward 8, Eglinton-Lawrence.

"They don't know how to fix the problem. They have no idea."

CBC News Toronto reached out to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, but did not a receive a response.

However, at a news conference Friday morning, Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney indicated no timeline for the completion of the project.

"You can't rush technical issues. We have to make sure that it opens safely and that it runs well," Mulroney said.

Streets unsafe due to traffic spillover, residents say

Businesses aren't the only ones suffering.

Tom Cohen, the chair of the Eglinton Park Residents' Association, says vehicles routinely take residential side streets to avoid the construction along Eglinton.

"One effect for us is very invasive and often very aggressive spillover traffic," Cohen said.

He says residents have been patient, but are upset with the added traffic in their neighbourhood northwest of Yonge and Eglinton.

Elainea Marks, chair of the board for the Upper Village BIA, says many of the Eglinton-area BIAs banded together and formed the Eglinton Alliance to demand both action and compensation from Metrolinx, resulting in a $3-million fund from the provincial government.

Metrolinx said in a statement provided to CBC Toronto that the funds are for additional business supports and that the agency will continue to work closely with the City of Toronto and local business improvement areas to continue to "flow these funds to businesses who need them."

However, Marks says much of that money has gone towards cleanup and other measures she considers to be the responsibility of the government.

A joint committee was created by Metrolinx and the city, with support from Toronto Association of BIAs and the Eglinton Alliance, to provide guidance on how to spend the money, but Marks says many were unhappy with the delay.

"By the time they took us seriously, there was only $1.34 million."

She says that money is held in trust with the city. But what Marks would like, she says, is for the money to go directly to struggling businesses.

"You've got some people that are going to food banks, you've got people that can't pay their mortgage, that are a terrified," Marks said.

"Nowhere else in the world do they do a project of this magnitude and not come up with a financial plan for individuals."