By Matthew DeBock
Images of protesters smashing the windows of a McDonald’s on Bank Street turned customers away from the area, resulting in a significant loss of business, claim Bank Street merchants.
“We were damaged the most, including the only property damage,” says Gerry LePage, executive director of the Bank Street Promenade.
“(All of the) Ottawa Citizen’s readers saw protesters destroy Bank Street property,” he says. “That sent a very clear message to the public: Don’t go to the Bank Street corridor.”
LePage says he has asked the Promenade’s members to tally up their losses. He says 20 businesses responded in the first 24 hours, but won’t make figures public until all responses are in.
Once the federal finance department — which has announced it will make compensation available to Ottawa businesses — establishes a protocol for compensation requests, the Promenade will decide on its course of action. It has not ruled out lawsuits.
“We are looking at which options will yield the greatest benefits,” LePage says, concerning methods for seeking compensation. “Right now, we have very little info.”
“There are many pros and cons to (lawsuits),” he says.
Other associations began publicly considering lawsuits immediately after the summit. Both the Byward Market and Rideau Street Business Improvement Areas have contacted lawyers, but now legal action may not be necessary.
Until the business associations have more definite information, they will not make any decisions about recouping losses.
“Our lawyers spoke with the Ministry of Finance,” says Jantine Van Kregten, executive director of the Byward Market BIA. “Once there is a criteria and a form to follow, we’ll get into that process (of compensation). We will make sure our members have the proper forms and understand the process.”Van Kregten says her area was lucky in some ways during the summit.
“One positive is that there was no violence in the Market, no property damage, and only minor graffiti,” she says. “Where we were hurt dealt with getting people down to the Market. The number of shoppers was drastically down.”
The Byward Market BIA has also contacted all of its 450 members to try to get a sense for losses suffered and expects to have numbers in the coming weeks.
Sharon McKenna, executive director of the Sparks Street Mall, says her organization is also working to compile information on losses.
“We’re polling the businesses on Sparks Street to get opinions,” she says.”We have a deadline of the end of this week to get that info in.”
McKenna says Sparks Street, the Byward Market and Bank Street were equally affected by protesters. While each of these associations is individually concerned, no concerted effort has been made to join forces in the calls for payment from the federal government.
“Protesters circled us as well as them,” she says. “The concentration was right there at the Conference Centre.”