King St. torture: don’t forget the parking

Re: That King Street torture: Delays blamed on rain, pipes and surprises — Sept. 13

One of the other factors that has not been mentioned in the terrible situation forced on the downtown Waterloo businesses by both the Waterloo Region and Waterloo councils is the lack of parking.

The previous city council thought it best to take out the always busy parking lot in front of Waterloo Town Square and replace it with a seldom used white elephant of a public square. This parking lot brought hundreds of customers and thousands of dollars into downtown Waterloo businesses everyday. Now, at least a third of the stores are empty in Waterloo Town Square and other businesses on King Street have also gone out of business.

At least one-third of the parking lot that was created to replace the one taken out is now occupied by a new office building. The people who will be working in this building and the customers who will be using these businesses will take up many of the badly needed parking spaces that are left. Not being able to find a parking spot is another reason why many former customers of downtown businesses have decided to find other stores, restaurants, hair salons, etc. to take their business to. There is little chance that once the construction is finished these people will be coming back to the downtown Waterloo businesses if they can’t find a parking spot. They can go to any of the other malls and plazas and find lots of free parking spots to use, and they never have to worry about getting a parking ticket.

This is just another example of how little care and concern the city and regional governments have for the downtown businesses of Waterloo. Brian Sklar Waterloo