ICYMI Cambridge Hindu temple feels targeted by City of Cambridge bylaw

This article was previously published on CambridgeToday.

As the South Asian community prepares for its biggest holiday of the year, a local Hindu temple is scrambling to make last-minute changes to its plans after the city imposed strict bylaws in Blair around parking. 

The president of the Radha Krishna Mandir & Cultural Centre, Dwarka Persaud said he's officially lost faith in the City of Cambridge after they notified him late last week about a temporary parking ban near his temple. 

The ban is just for Oct. 31, the same night as Diwali and Halloween. 

"We had no discussions with the city, it was imposed on us that there will be no parking on the street," said Persaud. 

The city did not respond to requests for comment. Ward 1 councillor Helen Shwery was also contacted for comment but did not immediately respond.

The Hindu temple has a small parking lot, and Persaud adds the South Asian community has grown significantly in the past two years, leading to some from the congregation to park on the road. With the increased amount of street parking mixed with trick-or-treaters on Halloween, the city made the decision to prevent parking on the street. 

"They could have said to us, we could do Halloween between, 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. or something like that, but there was no negotiation; just an arbitrary decision that was made," he said. 

"To be fair to the city, there have been issues with parking," he added. "If people are parking improperly to give them a ticket, but there have been complaints from neighbours of people trespassing on their lawns and things like that. We try to address that by sending out memos and letting people know this is wrong."

Persaud has now had to make arrangements to shuttle people from Conestoga College to the temple to allow people to still celebrate. He has even had to ask people not to come to help reduce the burden this will have on drivers and the elderly. 

The temple has been trying diligently to balance its relationship with the neighbourhood as well as the city. Out of respect for the community in the area, they have elected not to hold a fireworks display this year to help reduce some of the parking issues. 

Despite the temple working with the community, they feel like the same isn't being reciprocated and are feeling targeted by city staff. 

"The city has too much power, their employees seem to have too much power and they are just hiding under the fact this is what the rules and regulations are," said Persaud. 

"I think that they need to also understand that the city is going to talk about equity and diversity and tolerance be they should also demonstrate that." 

This is not the first run-in with the city for the Radha Krishna Mandir & Cultural Centre as they have been trying for nearly 20 years to build a new temple on Boxwood Drive. Due to the small size of their current location and the ever-growing population, they've bought and started the process of moving locations. 

They have been having issues with getting sewage and water hookups to their Boxwood property, despite the city having just developed the area for a plaza and housing. They cite lack of zoning amendments and permit approvals as the reason for high costs and the delay in opening the facility. 

The city has asked the temple to pay a $687,000 fee plus HST to set up necessary utilities to the property, despite the religious organization already paying $640,000 in development fees. 

"These cumulative costs and lack of consultation raise questions about whether the city’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) goals align with meaningful support for diverse communities," said the temple in a press release. "Our experiences are not isolated."

Persaud questions what other charities and cultures this is happening to and feels like his community is being singled out. He adds the lack of communication from the city has fuelled rumours and feelings within the congregation that paint the city as unjustly trying to target them. 

"I'm also hoping that cooler heads will prevail (at the city) and if people are not doing what they're supposed to do, somebody will tell them, this is wrong."