In every sense, this is a bad deal for our city, and for its citizens.

Read on for more information about what the Lansdowne Partnership Plan really means for Ottawa.

Q: How big will the Lansdowne Mall be?
A: It will be comparable to all the current Glebe retail, restaurant and service businesses combined. It will be a regional-scale shopping centre comparable to the size of the mall now at Billings Bridge. That’s more than five times the maximum growth in retail space size that can be sustained in the Glebe over the next five years*, according to a prominent market expert.

*or three times what can be sustained over the next ten years.

Q: How will the Lansdowne Mall impact local businesses?
A: The mall will include large-format outlets and chain retailers that would be in direct and unfair competition with existing businesses. There are only so many dollars to go around. If there is too much retail in an area, there won’t be enough businesses to sustain everyone and businesses will close. If they build this mall, many of your favourite local businesses will not survive.

Q: But isn’t the closing of some businesses just the way the marketplace works?
A: Small business people are used to and understand competition. What they don’t understand is why the city of Ottawa is "giving away" public land to allow developers to build a mall on their doorstep. Small businesses should not have to compete with a mall subsidized by their own tax dollars.

Q: How will the Lansdowne Mall affect traffic on Bank Street?
A: You know how traffic can be a challenge on Bank Street. Think about how bad the traffic will be if they double the size of the Glebe businesses.

Already, your favourite stores and restaurants are losing customers because people hate dealing with the traffic congestion on Bank Street. What happens to these stores when, on large event days, the city turns one lane of Bank Street into a bus lane? Will customers continue to negotiate the gridlock just to get to a local business? Would you?

Q: How will the Lansdowne Mall affect parking in the Glebe and surrounding areas?
A: On most event days, there will not be enough parking at Lansdowne for attendees. Between 3,500 and 8,000 cars will be looking for parking on neighborhood streets.

But the area has less than 2200 spots.

On event days where will you park when you come down to visit your favourite store? Will you and other customers not just turn around and shop where parking isn’t such a problem? The Lansdowne Partnership Plan proposes 92 event days each year. How many days of no customer parking do you think your favourite store can survive?

Q: But don’t these events generate more business?
A: The vast majority of Glebe businesses find that sales drop when there are events on at Lansdowne Park. People coming for the event are there for the event and not to shop. And regular customers don’t come because of the traffic and parking problems.

Q: How will the Lansdowne Mall impact our civic heritage?
A: The mall will dwarf and obstruct Lansdowne’s iconic Aberdeen Pavilion and uproot the heritage-designated Horticultural Building. It will diminish Ontario’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, the historic Rideau Canal and a traditional main street, Bank Street.

Q: Is the Lansdowne Partnership Plan a responsible use of taxpayer money?
A: In short, no.

The proposed development will cost Ottawa taxpayers over $129 million, with no return for decades. It will be allowed to operate rent-free on prime public land for 30 years. This is not a good deal for Ottawa, or its citizens.

Q: What can I do to help stop the Lansdowne Mall?
A: The Glebe and Old Ottawa South are vibrant, unique shopping areas built by the hard work of countless small businesspeople. Don’t let what they’ve built be destroyed by a mall at Lansdowne.

Please contact your councillor and ask them to say no to the mall at Lansdowne Park.