We can’t take much Moore of this insanity: Sydney businessowners’ plea

Businesses across Sydney’s CBD are losing hundreds of thousands in revenue during the construction of Clover Moore’s new bike lanes, with owners saying they are at a financial and psychological breaking point.

Exclusive: Businesses across Sydney’s CBD are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue because of the construction of new bike lanes by Lord Mayor Clover Moore, with owners saying they are at a financial and psychological breaking point.

Proprietors along Castlereagh St; one of the most important thoroughfares in the CBD, have asked the City of Sydney for compensation and support as their businesses are blocked off by fences and construction for a new permanent $22 million bike lane.

However their pleas have fallen on deaf ears — with the City of Sydney rejecting requests from struggling small businesses to erect signs on the street reminding customers they’re open.

The bike lane is designed to connect to a series of other lanes that stretch from Green Square to Circular Quay, with construction, which also involves widening the footpaths beginning on Castlereagh Street stretch in April.

Alen Harry, the owner of Trinity Jewellers on Castlereagh St said he was close to having a mental breakdown over the loss in revenue since the construction of the new bike lane began.

Business have been impacted by the construction of a new cycle path in Castlreagh St, Sydney. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Mr Harry said that while the construction of the Pitt St Metro station had been tough for his business, he feared the giant fences surrounding his small shop as the bike lane is built, could shut him down forever.

“They’ve almost completely covered the front of the shop, no one wants to come in or look at the window — there’s so much dust and noise and most of the time the building is shaking,” he said.

“I asked the council if it is possible to put up a little advertisement somewhere to show that my shop is still here, but they said sorry they don’t do that kind of thing — I wasn’t even asking for compensation.

“They have to be responsible for the side effects — sorry doesn’t pay my bills or the bills of my neighbours. If I lose more business how will I pay my rent?” he said.

Castlereagh Boutique Hotel general manager Paul Brasch said it took two years to get the council to make changes to make the area safer for elderly guests. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Mr Harry said he has lost more than $100,000 in revenue since construction began in April.

Nearby on Castlereagh, Robert Atallah the owner of a small shoe repair shop said he has also lost thousands in the same time period — taking him to the edge of foreclosure.

Mr Atallah told The Sunday Telegraph the bike lane construction material has blocked the view to his shop and forced potential customers to traverse a maze of bollards.

Mr Atallah has had to let go of two staff members and fears he cannot pay the rent unless something changes.

“My business has dropped about 70-80 per cent in the last month,” he said.

Barista Tanya Thanyamai from Capp coffee shop has noticed a drop in business. Picture: Rohan Kelly

“I struggled last month to come up with the rent and there’s no chance I’ll be able to come up with the rent this month.”

Mr Atallah’s neighbour Ali Alhashimi who owns Creative Razors barber shop is in the same boat.

Since April he claims to have lost more than three quarters of his customers and hasn’t made a single dollar in profit.

In a desperate attempt to bring customers back to his shop, Mr Alhashimi put up signs made of A3 paper with arrows pointing to his business on nearby traffic light poles.

Businesses have been impacted by the construction of a new cycle path in Castlreagh St. Picture: Rohan Kelly

The next day, the City of Sydney had them torn down.

“A man from the council came into my shop with the papers and told me it was considered littering and I could be fined,” Mr Alhashimi said. “But how else am I supposed to get business in?”

“We’re not asking for help paying the bills, we just want the bare minimum, a little bit of advertising and they can’t let us have that.”

Customers avoid the strip altogether, with nearby cafe Capp Espresso also losing a lot of business.

Trinity Jewellers owner says he is close to a mental breakdown due to the fall in revenue. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Barista Tanya Thanyamai said customers would tell her they were avoiding the area.

“I’ll see old customers who haven’t come in elsewhere in the city and they say they don’t want to come because there’s too much construction — it’s too noisy,” she said.

One of the businesses along the strip had been so badly affected as a result of the new bike lane, the owners had sought compensation from the City of Sydney.

The council refused and the business received a brusque letter saying the impact on the business could not be helped.

Mr Harry shows how obscured his shopfront currently is. Picture: Rohan Kelly

“Infrastructure development will always result in some impact on businesses in the relevant area and changes to an area caused by infrastructure development may have a detrimental effect on businesses,” the letter stated.

“An actionable claim does not arise merely based upon such development works.”

A few doors down The Castlereagh Boutique Hotel had to fight the City of Sydney to agree to raise the new bike lane to the footpath level so elderly guests with walking frames could get from a car onto the footpath without having to clamber over the cycleway.

Hotel general manager Paul Brasch said it took two years to get council to change the plans to make it safer for the hotel’s elderly clients.

Visitors to the city have been complaining to business owners about the noise and disruption in the CBD. Picture: Rohan Kelly

“A lot of our members are older but none of that was taken on board by council — we had to get a traffic expert to write a report and put it through again,” he said.

Mr Brasch said the hotel only has one fire escape out onto the street and for some of the construction period, the fire exit has been blocked, deeply concerning hotel management.

“It’s been completely blocked several times,” he said

“We are suffering reputational loss due to City Metro and now the cycleway — it’s a mess out the front.”

A few blocks away on Pitt St, where construction of a separate permanent bike lane has already been completed, some businesses still suffer.

Some of the construction work being carried out on Castlereagh St. Picture: Rohan Kelly

The Sunday Telegraph understands the luxury Fullerton Hotel is losing millions of dollars in revenue because the completed bike lane has blocked all access to the hotel for coaches and buses — removing corporate conferences as a source of income.

One hotel industry insider said the bike lane on Pitt St had made the Fullerton so inaccessible from the street that they have lost over a million dollars a year since the lane was installed.

“Their conference business has gone from being one of the largest in the city to almost nothing,” the source said.

“The new cycle lane will also impact Sheraton on the Park because it will block off the Castlereagh street entrance.”

“So many hotels in the city are affected but no general manager is going to say anything because they’ll incur the wrath of Clover.”

Information from the City of Sydney about the works. Picture: Rohan Kelly

City of Sydney mayoral candidate Lyndon Gannon, who is looking to unseat Clover Moore in local government elections in September, said the bike lanes should have been put on George St, where he says it was less likely to impact business.

“Instead we’re stuck with a pop-up cycleway on Pitt St that doesn’t service anyone properly and businesses are struggling,” he said.

“We’ve seen time and again when construction blows out, the City doesn’t do anything to support small business.”

When asked by the Telegraph why business owners had been denied help with advertising, the Lord Mayor’s team said they were still considering social media advertising for affected businesses.

“We acknowledge during construction there will be disruptions and we do all we can to minimise those impacts, including staging works,” Ms Moore said.

“We continue to liaise with businesses along Castlereagh street regarding our construction.

“Our teams have been speaking with impacted businesses on how we might be able to address their concerns and, where possible, open completed areas sooner.”

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Originally published as We can’t take much Moore of this insanity: Sydney businessowners’ plea