[chemgear]

I put this in the Alberta Politics thread but maybe it deserves it's own thread. I'll just remove my post and link it to here.

Escoba is done.

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-...erty-tax-bills

After two years of punishing property tax bills, a Calgary restaurateur says he’ll be closing his doors after 20 years, unable to keep up with a barrage of escalating costs bleeding his business dry.

But compounded by a provincially-mandated boost to minimum wage, a slumping Canadian dollar, a 45 per cent reduction in sales blamed on the swooning economy and losing half of the parking spaces in front of his restaurant to a bike lane, Hamelin says he has no choice but to close his doors.

“With all these things combined, I actually had to decide we’re shutting down. On June 1, I gave notice to my staff we’re closing our doors on June 30,” he said.

“Everybody has taken their pound of flesh — city hall, the province and even the federal government — and now there’s nothing left.”