PlayWright, the restaurant run by talented local chef Steve Brochu inside the Citadel Theatre, was forced to close its doors because of a significant drop in customers after city crews showed up six months ago and began completely ripping up 99 Street in front of the restaurant.
No warning given to owner
Brochu said he was given no warning of the city’s construction plans that have so far included nearly a half-year of jackhammering, excavating, construction fences and pedestrian detours. Brochu’s plans for an outdoor patio this summer were scuppered because who wants to dine next to that noise and dust? It was still possible to reach the restaurant via the underground parkade below the theatre, but you really had to know your route. The city has also alternated closing each of the two entrances to the parkade since spring.
Another victim: Khazana
In a city with several convenient dining options, one made inconvenient by city disruptions isn’t going to last. Earlier this month it was Khazana, one of the city’s longest-standing and most popular Indian restaurants. A mainstay Downtown for nearly 30 years, Khazana could no longer make a go of it with all the shifting construction projects and street closures that made finding the restaurant a maze challenge.
Projects aimed at streetscaping and LRT
And why are such disruption projects undertaken? In the case of PlayWright, it was the “streetscaping” of 99 Street to add benches, ornate street lights, wider sidewalks and more places for the homeless to sit or sleep. (The latter is not an official reason, but it will be the primary use to which the project is put when completed.) Elsewhere Downtown, such as outside Khazana on 107 Street and 102 Avenue, the business-killing projects are mostly to shut through streets permanently, eliminate parking, expand the LRT, create more urban parks and — wait for it — extend the bike-lane network.
Criticism of city priorities
Talk about catering to the desires of the minority at the expense of the majority of Edmontonians, as well as enabling council to indulge its fantasies of an ideal, walkable, transit and bike-oriented city that’s free of cars — an urban planner’s perfect eco-Nirvana. And it’s not just Downtown. A few summers ago a gaggle of small businesses along Fort Road in the northeast went under when the city decided it was time for an entire rebuild of the busy artery. And, of course, businesses along Stony Plain Road have been suffering for four years as the city and its contractor, Marigold Infrastructure Partners slowly — ever so slowly — extend the LRT from Downtown to the west end.
