Re: Removal of the handicapped parking spots in front of the Metro store (Tribune letters, Sept. 25)
I was concerned to find that the two accessible parking places had been removed from the store front and spoke to the manager of Metro. He was as upset about this as I was and explained that the property is owned by Stone Road Mall and that if he had his way he would be outside repainting the handicapped signs himself. He told me that Metro is getting many complaints about this issue and is sending them on to his head office. He appreciates each complaint and reinforces his request to have the spaces returned.
I followed this up with a call to the property manager responsible for the change. He said that the spaces had been removed because  the parking lot did not comply with the required number of non-handicapped parking places. Initially, he offered to try to find two extra places and reinstate the handicapped spaces in front of the store.
Today I was told the places would not be returned and that the parking lot has more than the required number of handicapped places.
It appears that the property manager  expects people with disabilities to park at the far corners of the huge parking lot and walk to the grocery store, perhaps from Rogers to the doors of Metro.
I asked if he considered this a compassionate decision, and he replied that it is a  business decision. Several of my friends and I are so unhappy about the inhumanity of this decision that we have decided to boycott the mall and encourage other friends to do likewise.
We hope that some merchants in the mall will be sufficiently embarrassed to encourage the mall management to reconsider this regressive decision so as not to be identified with it.
It is worth noting that before the handicapped spaces were removed, Metro had fewer of these spaces than any of the other big grocery stores. All of the Zehrs, No Frills and Food Basics have four conveniently placed spaces. Metro used to have two very visible ones and one hidden around the corner.
Janey Southey
Guelph