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Yorkdale Mall workers allowed in the food court once more

Call it a lesson in the power of social media or a nifty bit of backtracking. Either way it seems construction crews banned from Yorkdale Shopping Centre’s food court while they work on the mall’s $331-million expansion will be allowed back in – as long as they change their muddy boots.

Two signs posted in the mall informing workers that they are not allowed inside during construction work hours and threatening that “they will be removed and dealt with accordingly” if found inside, have been taken down.

It’s still not completely clear who made the call that workers should be banned in the first place. The signs were posted in the EllisDon office and parking area, according to the mall’s management.

EllisDon spokesperson Dustin Luchka writes to NOW in an email that the sign has been removed because it was “not in context.”

“We had asked our site team(s) to change out of their dirty work gear before entering the mall for safety and courtesy reasons,” Luchka writes. “Moving into Spring, a lot mud [sic] has been dragged in. We have set up a changing station to help with this.”

The company did not respond to further questions about who made the decision to forbid construction workers from entering themall.

Claire Santamaria, the general manager of the Yorkdale Shopping Centre, says customers and tenants inside the mall had been complaining for some time about contaminants being brought in from the construction zones. Cement, diesel and tar stains were being left behind inside elevators and other surfaces, particularly in the food court. These stains were in turn rubbing off on customers’ clothing, Santamaria says.

“There was concern about contaminants from the construction site being tracked into the shopping centre. When the point was raised with our construction partners, we were told that workers would be asked to change their contaminated gear before enteringYorkdale,” she says in an email.

EllisDon is not the only company with crews on site. The mall’s management raised concerns about the complaints with other companies as well, and EllisDon responded by saying that their crews would change out of their work clothes before entering themall, according to Santamaria.

She said that when mall management became aware of the signs, which went up last Friday around 6 a.m., they contacted EllisDon and the notices were removed by noon.

The mall has now made an elevator available to the construction workers where they park their vehicles so they can change their shoes and take the elevator to the food court.

Santamaria says. “Construction workers are a part of our community.”

The sign caused a backlash on Twitter, with people criticizing the mall for being “elitist” and threatening a boycott.

This is not the first time the shopping centre has been criticized for its management. Around this time last year, the mall barred its own employees from parking on site on weekends to give customers priority while the mall was in the midst of replacing a three-storey garage.

news@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto

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