Reimburse business for disruption

I have raised the issue before of how expensive city infrastructure projects can be for surrounding businesses.

At this point I would like to suggest that there is a political necessity for urban government to pay for the damage and lost business that occurs  in the wake of infrastructure disruption.

A restaurant I favor, owned by a friend, faced a week of dramatic decline in customers because of the overhaul to the nearby municipal railway. Many businesses nearby lost revenue because of the disruption.

I believe a few lawsuits and a Supreme Court case are required to make it clear that the government has no right to take revenue away from a business without compensation. Even if the government is behaving intelligently.

I hope we can look forward to a day when new government projects have very simple environmental impact statements and very serious business impact statements that require compensation for the lost business. The cost of lost business should be built into the infrastructure costs.  It should not be the burden of individual businesses.