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ALL SALES FINAL ~ NO REFUNDS / EXCHANGES ~ ALL ITEMS SUBJECT TO PRIOR SALE HOURS: MON - FRI: 10-9, SAT: 9 - 6, SUN: 11 - 5 CAMBRIDGE: 2450 EAGLE ST. N. tel: 519-650-5252 BRANTFORD: 184 LYNDEN RD. tel: 226-250-0138 WWW.ASHLEYFURNITUREHOMESTORE.COM SALE!SALE! INVENTORY REDUCTION BLOWOUT 2LOCATIONS! Thursday, March 9, 2017 • WATERLOO CHRONICLE • 7 Continued from page 1 Property values for land- owners have already started going up, and will continue to do so once the LRT is in service. The impacts on businesses, though, are real. King Street Cycle owner Andy Cox said he faced a 40 per cent decrease in sales when Erb and Caroline streets were closed last year. He had to adjust staff and merchandise ordering, citing it as "a tough time." At the end of November 2016, when uptown reopened, Cox was looking forward to getting back his usual levels of business but that's yet to hap- pen. "People aren't coming back to uptown quite yet," he said, looking out his store's front window at a row of pylons across King Street at Erb. King Street is closed once again but this time hopefully for only a few days. Despite the struggles -- including an unwanted orange fence along the sidewalk and noise and dirt from the con- struction site, plus a break-in in August in which the suspect used a large, heavy pipe left behind by construction work- ers to smash the front door -- King Street Cycle isn't planning on filing for compensation. "I don't feel like it would go anywhere," said Cox. Although he is disappointed in how GrandLinq implement- ed the construction, he and his staff are hopeful about the end result. "We are not anti-LRT," Cox said. "We can see the region is growing, with a young demo- graphic not as invested in car culture. The LRT is a positive thing." King Street Cycle is brac- ing for even more construction later this spring for the City of Waterloo's streetscape project. Closures will take place along King Street from Central Street to just south of Erb. But again, Cox thinks the outcome will be positive with bike lanes and larger sidewalks. " U p t o w n w i l l b e wonderful when this is all fin- ished," he said. Peter Davies owns a busi- ness on King Street, All My Nails Salon, and is also not fil- ing for compensation. "This is not a sob story," Davies said. "The construction did have an impact on us, but we are doing everything we can to survive, to stay positive. "Filing for compensation would be like suing myself with my own tax dollars. It's not the answer." If the businesses filing claims won, the region would pay using tax dollars, but could be reimbursed from Grand- Linq. The OMB would have to determine that the region did not do everything in its power to assist business and mini- mize the impacts of construc- tion, that there was not a suffi- cient long-term benefit to busi- nesses, and that business suf- fered losses as a direct result of construction, rather than other factors like mismanagement. "The region has done a lot for businesses," said Galloway. Initiatives include offering seminars on how to deal with construction, paying for direct mailers to customers, facili- tating contests and contrib- uting $20,000 to the Business Improvement Areas in Kitch- ener and Waterloo. "Filling for compensation would be like suing myself with my own tax dollars. It's not the answer." Peter Davis Owner of All My Nails Salon Businesses won't follow suit Andy Cox, owner of King Street Cycle, holds up a heavy pipe left behind by LRT construction crews. In August, he said it was used to break into his store by smashing through the front door window. SAmAnThA BeATTIe PhoTo