In Toronto they did something wonderful. DATA. When they implemented transit priority on a previously more car-centric road, of course you had some small business owners screaming murder, saying their sales were down like crazy (we heard 30-40%) and wanted compensation. Majority of business actually supported the new project because it was about bringing more people total (more people fits in transit than would fit on a parking lot).
Turns out that the city had a partnership with the credit card processors to measure the change in spending before and after the implementation of the project (on a aggregate level for all the shops on that street). Surprise surprise, a year later, they were able to prove there was no drop in business. We never heard again from those business, and surprise, they are still open.
Yeah there's tons of data on this, it's essentially not controversial if you care about data/what's real. Cars destroy business in every city in the world where they're dominant.
That rules. There are lots - LOTS! - of local regulations that hurt small businesses. But they're not all headline grabbers and they're certainly not all ideological battlegrounds like the minimum wage.
We actually have a lot of data on this stuff and we should use it :)
Turns out that the city had a partnership with the credit card processors to measure the change in spending before and after the implementation of the project (on a aggregate level for all the shops on that street). Surprise surprise, a year later, they were able to prove there was no drop in business. We never heard again from those business, and surprise, they are still open.