Article content Summer days are upon Alberta’s capital and the Oilers are making a Stanley Cup run. The Ice District plaza is filled with the roar of the crowds at every scored goal and after every win, the Joey Moss pit is fuelled with victory dances to the tune of La Bamba. While it’s a beautiful sound at night, the following morning, business owners in the city are not sharing in the gleeful foot tapping.
Instead, they are hearing the pounding and crushing sound of heavy machinery working on some of the city’s most popular streets and avenues. We are in the thick of construction season and local small business owners are feeling checked from behind by city construction. Improving public infrastructure is necessary for cities to be vibrant, welcoming, and accessible.
But it’s too often forgotten that there’s a long, hard journey between glossy concept images and a finished project for the impacted local small businesses. According to a recent Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) survey, construction projects have impacted more than two-thirds (70 per cent) of Edmonton small businesses in the last five years, with 12 per cent saying that they have had to use personal or business savings to make ends meet due to the disruptions. Large fences, redirection of foot traffic, heavy vehicle traffic, and the movement of heavy machinery dissuades customers from visiting storefronts and communities.
Considering these obstructions, it is no surprise that 70 per .
