Especially since there's empty space in the godawful tower they could have moved into.

It really is nice. I hadn't noticed those specific details before, thanks for pointing them out! The Yoga studio is pretty cool on the inside (the parts that I've seen at least), but it would make a great downtown condo space as well. I think my caffeine addiction would be well served living above Starbucks.

:cheers:

There were condos on at least the top couple of floors before Yoga Mala took over. I don't remember if there was anything else there between when it was condos and when the yoga studio moved in, but I remember them being quite large...like a unit per floor type of deal. This was quite awhile ago, though, so I could be wrong on the details.

It seems like they're renovating the tower too. If you walk by later in the evening, you can see inside a bit better, and it looks like at least 3 of the floors are gutted.

I remember them. It was when I was starting to look at places... The top floor was on the market for something like $500-600k. A little out of my price range, bit it definitely looked nice.

I didn't like the backhanded complaint about the changes to impaired driving laws. Seriously? They would've been better not to mention that than to blame that as a reason business is down.

Yup, that one has sounded terrible since the first time I heard it. If they want to use that as a jumping off point, they should really push for better access to cabs/ride-hailing entities rather than a straight attack on stricter BAC laws.

Yes, I said exactly that in the story I linked, and I have been advocating for such things long before .04 was implemented.

We need more people living downtown. That means a real policy and a real plan to reach the city's infill targets, instead of continuing to approve sprawl.

We also need a less car-centric culture. Again, the city has a master transportation plan, but no actual implementation plan to get there.

Continuing to do nothing on these fronts is not good for the health of downtown.

I thought it was a fair point. It is a fact that the new law .04 impacts their business. He appears to be saying that the government is piling on them with the PST at a time when they already are facing the impact of .04

And that comment should be ignored while reminding everyone that other provinces charge full tax on restaurant meals - as it should be.

There's is nothing particularly unique about difficulty some restaurants are finding themselves in. There will always be a revolving door of restaurants.

I am not asking for any of these things to be retracted. They are what they are. I am saying we need more people downtown and less reliance on cars to build a sustainable vibrant city.

I will give you that.

But at the same your compatriots *cough* Niall *cough* are going around criticizing when the city does make an effort to work on downtown. Your industry needs a kick in the ass.

Sure restaurant meals should be taxed Probably groceries should be too as at least 80% of groceries costs are not necessities. It is just the unfortunate timing with .04, economic downturn, PST and now Trudeau's small business tax grab all happening a the same time.

Well the .04 penalties have been in effect for a long time, at least since I received my driver's licence in the 90s. I guess they did increase the penalties, however, it would be hard to say that increasing the penalties for a law that has existed for years is the one thing hurting the industry.

Uh oh, you just opened my favorite talking point in the entire world.

Suffice it to say: it's not a tax grab, it's enforcing neutrality and virtually all of the talking points by the Chamber et al. are deliberate lies.

There are a few things in it that could hurt and be re-worked, but overall, I have no sympathy for "small businesses" that are using income sprinkling to family members who have no legitimate input into the business, are using their corporation to passively invest, or are using the corporation to convert income into dividends/capital gains to take advantage of their power tax rates. These things shouldn't have been done in the first place.

I have been bombarded in recent weeks by advocacy groups and whatnot, but been to busy to meet with them. I finally sat down yesterday and read through the changes. As a small business owner, they all seem reasonable to me.

My parents were concerned about it, but they went through the changes with their accountant and decided that the changes wouldn't be a big deal for them anyway.

A lot of small business owners raising a stink over this are either ones who are taking advantage of the loopholes that exist or are just ignorant of the actual changes proposed and are bashing the general principle of increased taxes. I know a few small business owners who take advantage of the loop holes and have no sympathy for them.