After four years, the owner of City Cyclery in Walkerville says he is calling it quits.
"I'm really sad because it is a community service," says Ron Drouillard, who plans to hand the business over to his employees at the end of the month.
Drouillard says he's happy in one respect that walking away from the business he started with now City Councillor Chris Holt will give him more time with his family. However, he admits difficulties running a small operation in the City of Windsor made his decision easy.
The straw that broke the camel's back, he says, was a citation delivered by a bylaw enforcement officer. He says for the past three years, workers at City Cyclery have parked bicycles in front of their Lincoln Rd. shop, but there was a complaint.
That's when Drouillard decided he had had enough.
"As a business owner, working with the federal government and with the provincial government has been so easy," he says. "On the other hand, municipally it is very different."
Drouillard cites difficulties keeping bike racks in front of his store, and what he calls "the anti-cycling rhetoric coming out of council." Specifically, he points to a recent debate by council whether to put cycling lanes on Wyandotte St. E and comments by Councillor Paul Borelli that cyclists should use the sidewalk in some areas of Windsor.
Drouillard says he decided to give his employees the business because he did not want them to be jobless.
The employees are looking at different locations within Walkerville and hope to reopen this fall.
