Kitchener Food Not Bombs Update

Councillors are forcing change along King Street, but the battle for this most public of spaces will not be a quiet one. More than 180 supporters of social justice group Food Not Bombs packed council chambers on Monday. After complaints from a couple of businesses, councillors want Food Not Bombs to move its Saturday food servings away from King and Young streets. The poor, disabled, unemployed and mentally ill people who come to that corner for a bag of free produce and a bowl of hot soup are scaring shoppers away, the businesses say.

Activists, merchants try to find common ground in the core
Terry Pender, Waterloo record

KITCHENER

There are only 230 steps between the designer-clothing store called Inception and the greasy spoon called Dandy’s, but the two King Street businesses might as well be worlds apart.

Inception, at 26 King St. E., is what city councillors want to see more of — an independent business catering to an affluent clientele. Owner Erin Young is vice-chair of the Kitchener Downtown Business Association.

“Doing better than last year, doing better than the year before that,” Young said yesterday as she served two women in her store. “We are happy to be here.”

Dandy’s has been a King Street fixture for about 40 years but Monday night, city councillors denied the restaurant permission for a patio this summer, citing complaints about customer behaviour. Since 1991, the small patio has accounted for 30 to 35 per cent of Dandy’s business in warmer months. “It’s huge,” said Maple Todd, the restaurant owner’s daughter, said of losing the patio. “It’s our summertime business.”

Councillors are forcing change along King Street, but the battle for this most public of spaces will not be a quiet one. More than 180 supporters of social justice group Food Not Bombs packed council chambers on Monday. After complaints from a couple of businesses, councillors want Food Not Bombs to move its Saturday food servings away from King and Young streets. The poor, disabled, unemployed and mentally ill people who come to that corner for a bag of free produce and a bowl of hot soup are scaring shoppers away, the businesses say.

“The hungry have to survive, but businesses have to thrive,” Mayor Carl Zehr told the packed meeting. The downtown is in transition, he said.

The good-paying factory jobs are long gone. Empty factories are slowly being filled with condominiums fetching $260 a square foot and more.

The city has provided incentives worth millions to develop old buildings for other uses. Millions more helped entice the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University downtown.

The way Todd sees it, the poor and unattractive are not welcome in this post-industrial landscape, especially if shoppers and condo owners are made uncomfortable. “People call them the down-and-out, whatever, but they need somewhere to eat too,” Todd said.

Councillors said they received six complaints last year about patio patrons at Dandy’s, alleging catcalls, whistling and loud drunkenness. Councillors wouldn’t provide the restaurant owners with details. “If there is a complaint, come talk to us and we will address it,” Todd said. “If there is a problem, come tell us and we will fix it.”

She acknowledged the different worlds along King. “We are not serving the attractive people,” she said. “We are not in the model business. We are not in the fashion business.”

But as the downtown becomes more of a knowledge economy, with a larger creative class, Inception’s Young believes both segments can coexist.

“I have homeless men who will open the door for me when I walk into Market Square. Know what I mean?”

Young said she isn’t bothered by the people who get food from Food Not Bombs. “I never even knew they existed,” she said. “I don’t know anyone who is not in support of feeding the homeless, that’s not the issue. The issue is location and visibility.”

Council wants the group to move to another spot around City Hall. Group members said they’d talk about it.

Brad Hutton, the chair of the downtown business association, said he’ll attend the Food Not Bombs serving on Saturday to lend a hand, observe and speak with volunteers. He said he wants to know where the people go after picking up their food and soup.

see also: The struggle for King Street continues