Waterloo’s “heart and soul” needs a little help

The heart and soul of any city, including Waterloo, is its core. When people and businesses consider moving to a new community they go to the centre core area to get a sense of the economic health and vibrancy.

UpTown Waterloo has a very special and unique core area with wide streets, attractive buildings and continued economic growth. It is anchored by local committed hard-working entrepreneurs who are the real face of the city.

The streets are lined with creative businesses, most owned and operated by people who daily put their lives on the line to make their shops successful, and to give the core and the city its very special vibrant character. These people are like a family, working together in their uptown neighbourhood, continually helping each other while offering outstanding service and value to the people who patronize their locations. They are the first to volunteer for local community events and not-for-profit service organizations. They are the true ambassadors in creating the warm personal feeling that people enjoy when they visit our uptown.

After many delays and economic hardships, the LRT project is slowly coming to the end. But the streetscape project now has the uptown business community under siege. The work on King Street, between Erb and Bridgeport, disrupts all traffic patterns in uptown Waterloo and continues to punish the local business community.

I am sure we all look forward to the finished product. But the impact of these projects from serious delays and poor communication is the real culprit on the people and businesses in the uptown area.

For what seems like a never-ending time frame, and through no fault of their own, the uptown business community is being penalized by the unbearably slow, often delayed process. Many of those who are caught in the middle of the construction have borrowed money and mortgaged their homes in order to somehow survive the chaos. There are those who are not taking or reducing their own salary in order to pay their staff.

My family and I have operated a family business in downtown Kitchener for ninety years. We can speak first-hand of the massive sacrifices our neighbours and friends endure during these kinds of downtown construction periods.

I am certain that the regional chair, mayor and councilors are concerned about the issues affecting the local business community. I encourage each and every one of them to spend just one-half a day with these local business people to really understand the magnitude of their concerns.

What is the point of going through all the LRT and streetscape construction when at the end of the day there is nothing but vacant store fronts and nowhere for people living and working in the uptown area to purchase their requirements.

Huge tax concessions are given to developers to invest in the core area with the hope of adding higher tax revenues to the city in the future. The people in the uptown business community only want to compete on a level playing field. Could not the city and the region offer tax concessions and other creative incentives to help them through this trying time? Look at this as an investment for the future that will reap extra tax revenue.

This would be a well-deserved and sensitive gesture to repay the people who have made enormous sacrifices in order to keep Waterloo with a special “heart and soul” and which will further encourage people to live and invest in our city and region.