Local restaurant owner says “It’s like a disaster. We suffered. Everybody on this side suffered.”
The latest delay in the construction of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT have left business owners along the route feeling frustrated as they’ve struggled to survive barricades, blocked sidewalks, and restricted streets for more than a decade.
“It’s like a disaster,” said Debbie Edwards, owner of Caribbean Love restaurant on Eglinton Ave. W.
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“We suffered. Everybody on this side (the north side of Eglinton) suffered.”
Few people come in for lunch anymore.
For years, her restaurant was shielded from view by construction screens, scaffolding, giant dumpsters, and a seemingly endless cloud of dust.
“It was terrible. Nobody came around to buy. They don’t even walk on this side,” said Edwards in her kitchen Wednesday. “Nobody is coming to buy food because maybe they don’t have money.”
After some 30 years in the area, she said the last 11 have been a frustrating struggle.
People and merchants along this stretch of Eglinton Ave., between Dufferin St. and Marlee Ave., have been reacting to word from the provincial transit agency Metrolinx that the long-awaited 25-stop, 19-kilometre transit project will not be ready as scheduled this fall.
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“Unfortunately, while progress has been made, Crosslinx Transit Solutions have fallen behind schedule, are unable to finalize construction and testing, and therefore the system will not be operational on this timeline,” said Metrolinx President and CEO Phil Verster on Sept. 23.
He added the Metrolinx is doing its best to “complete the work quickly, so we can welcome riders onto a complete, tested, and fully operational Eglinton Crosstown LRT as soon as possible.”
The project began in 2011 and the initial completion date was 2020. But with COVID and other delays, that was pushed to September 2022.
The non-stop inconvenience of construction was compounded by COVID-19, according to Jason McDonald, owner of Casual Beauty Salon, just doors east of the yet-to-open Oakwood station.
“I think our business is Metrolinx-proof and COVID-proof,” he joked. “But we struggled and we still are. We are still trying to get back clients.”
Kamran Zafar opened a local grocery store along the route six years ago.
“Because of coronavirus — grocery stores were busy, restaurants were closed, local people stayed local,” he said. “But with the construction, a lot of businesses shut down, which affected the income of people here.”
Surviving businesses were hoping to finally see the transit project completed and opened, so that they could start rebuilding clientele.
Now they are not sure when that might happen.
slaurie@postmedia.com
