City of Ottawa to help Bank-Somerset businesses

In an effortto help businesses near a downtown intersection that has been closed for more than six weeks after a partial building collapse, the City of Ottawa is considering offering free parking, rerouting buses to boost foot traffic and allowing taxes to be paid in instalment.

Mayor Larry O'Brien and Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes met with businesses near the corner of Bank and Somerset Thursday, and said the city will look into their suggestions.

"They're trying to work with us to try and create an environment where people will again come down and do business with those companies that are close to that intersection," O'Brien said afterward. "And we're going to do whatever we can in terms of assisting them."

Robert Giacobbe said 20 to 30 per cent fewer walk-in customers having been visiting his Bank Street store, Wilde's, since the city closed the intersection on Oct. 19 after Somerset House partially collapsed.

The city feared the public would be at risk if the rest of the building fell down.

After the meeting, Giaccobe said he thinks O'Brien and Holmes were really listening.

"They did take our ideas; I'm almost positive they will do them," he said.

Gerry Lepage, executive director of the Bank Street Business Improvement Area,said he also found the meeting encouraging.

"I think the city is being very compassionate. They certainly understand … the severity of the situation."

O'Brien said the city does not have the power to set a date for the intersection to reopen.

The city has ordered Somerset House to be demolished, but its owners have obtained a court order giving them more time to prove they can make the building safe to fix.

In the meantime, building owner Tony Sharesebi said he feels for the businesses surrounding the intersection, but he believes the building "is as safe as any other building under construction" and there was no need to close the street, particularly since he erected a three-metre high barricade around the site.