Hundreds of people have signed a petition supporting business owners along a St Albans shopping strip, who would like more car parking, including FoodWorks owner Ali Kahla. 69156 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Alesha Capone
MORE than 720 residents have signed a petition calling for more car parking spaces to be provided along a St Albans shopping strip.
The petition, asking for more car parks near the Conrad St shopping area, was received by the Brimbank City Council last week.
FoodWorks supermarket owner Ali Khala said his family business had been operating for 15 years, and they had also began the neighbouring fruit shop two years ago.
He began the petition, which 723 people signed in just three weeks.
“We started the petition because we’ve already spoken to the council and nothing was done,” Mr Khala said.
“We get customer feedback, they complained they would have to go somewhere else and we were losing business, so we decided to start a petition to get the council to do something about it.”
Mr Khala said the supermarket served around 1000 people per day and the fruit shop was visited by 500-600 customers.
The shopping strip also features a busy butcher, barber, pizza shop and a fashion outlet.
Mr Khala said it was important for the council to support the area’s small businesses and he would like “some more car parking spaces … not just for us and the other businesses but for the customers”.
He said there was a car accident in the street last Thursday and he has footage of several similar incidents to show the council.
“Every week we have an accident here, people are waiting in line and smack into each other as they reverse,” he said.
A Conrad St resident, Brian Briffa, said the businesses were “a great set of shops run by great people” but he and his family did not sign the petition, because extending the car park could impact on a nearby park.
“Trees have just been planted and upgraded, which me and many locals have waited for about 15 years to see, the park upgraded and trees finally planted in area,” he said.
Mr Briffa said he also asked the council for “new footpaths and roads” in the area as “the footpaths are a health hazard for the elderly and disabled using the footpaths to get to the shop precinct”.
The council administrators resolved to investigate the car parking issue and report the findings at the next meeting.
