Toronto city councillor Gord Perks has heard the cries of his Parkdale constituents to save Tibet Kitchen loud and clear – there's just nothing he can do about it.

"Like you, I desperately want this business, which adds so much to our neighbourhood, to succeed," said Perks of the 13-year-old Tibetan food restaurant in a statement. "When the owner of Tibet Kitchen contacted my office about a month ago, my staff and I immediately got to work."

The statement was issued Tuesday in response a Change.org petition that's been circulating among members of the tight-knight Parkdale neighbourhood this week.

Perks says that he and his staff provided advice to the restaurant's owner, put him in touch with appropriate public servants, and offered to help him with "all the necessary paper work."

Bad news: the Tibet Kitchen is losing its location. This explains what I can and can't do: https://t.co/Y0PFjhXcAz

— Gord Perks (@gordperks) October 17, 2017

What the more than 1,100 backers of the petition want, however, is for Perks to change a local by-law so that Tibet Kitchen can move into a spot that isn't of interest to a multinational corporation.

"This is something I can not legally do, and frankly should not do," says Perks in the release.

"Your petition asks me to give one specific business an exemption from the rules. This troubles me," he continues. "I don’t believe individual politicians should be able to change the rules so that a specific business succeeds or fails."

The petition's organizers remain unswayed, however.

"Needless to say, we are not deterred by this response," reads an update on Change.org in response to Perks' statement. "We are meeting him next week, and will be considering next steps beyond that."