BIA fights loss of parking spots

BIA fights loss of parking spots. The Dundas BIA has appealed to York West Councillor and mayoral candidate Giorgio Mammoliti for help in re-instating rush-hour parking along its retail strip. Mammoliti is seen here during a walkabout with BIA members, Friday, Feb. 5. Courtesy photo

The Dundas West Business Improvement Area (BIA) has sought help from a mayoral candidate in an effort to re-instate rush hour parking privileges along its retail strip that their embattled councillor had initially made possible, but also had a hand in eliminating.

Business owners, in conjunction with the Dundas West BIA, have voiced their displeasure with Davenport Councillor Adam Giambrone for turning a deaf ear to their parking concerns. They have turned to Giorgio Mammoliti, councillor for York West, asking him to take up their cause.

"Reducing 25 parking spots to eight along a main arterial road is not helping local businesses," said Mammoliti, who participated in a walkabout with local BIA members, Friday, Feb. 5.

The BIA is arguing that during the one-year pilot project that allowed parking on the opposite sides of traffic flow during rush hour periods along Dundas Street West between Dovercourt and Sterling roads, merchants experienced a surge in business and new shops opened up, according to BIA President Sylvia Fernandez. The BIA assumed the additional parking would become a permanent fixture, especially given the one-year fight to secure these spots, including a petition boasting more than 900 signatures from area residents and visitors to the neighbourhood, and many letters from business owners. The effort paid off after council granted the one-year trial period in September 2007.

After a TTC report indicated that the rush hour parking hindered the efficiency of streetcar operations by 40 per cent in the fall of 2008, city council, with support from Giambrone, the TTC chair, voted to revoke the new parking arrangement. On-street parking was all but eliminated on stretches of Dundas, while paid parking was established on side streets. "Not only did he take away the strip of parking, he turned it into a 'No Standing' zone. Parking authority is having a field day. There are lots of arguments, it's really getting heated around here," said Fernandez.

Calls and emails to Giambrone's office were not returned by The Villager's press deadline.

For anyone wishing to stop and pick-up bread at the Brazil Bakery And Pastry Ltd. on Dundas Street West at Sheridan Avenue, it'll cost $61 for a loaf of bread because shoppers are likely to be issued a ticket, pointed out Mammoliti.

"I'm getting involved," he said. "Parking and the lack of parking has to be an issue, it has to be resolved. We have to start talking about supporting BIAs and not let the TTC push them around."

What's worse, said Mammoliti, is that not only has the parking been eliminated, but there was no community consultation. He said he is seeking help from the Emery Village BIA, one of the city's largest and financially successful BIAs, of which Mammoliti is a board member.

"It's truly unacceptable for the city, the TTC or council to take parking away from businesses," he said, adding, "I'm not going to pay $61 for a loaf of bread."

Fernandez said she is hoping the issue will get re-opened at council.