“I’m really proud how we’ve engaged with other organizations as we were doing things like the urban plan and other initiatives,” said Pierre Gallant, the president of Downtown Summerside Inc.
“We’ve learned a lot as we went and I think it helped us prep more for 2017. I’m really excited for the Urban Core Plan. That was a big thing for me it was great to work with the board and work with them on how we can work together with Summerside.”
On Wednesday, the group held their annual general meeting at Open Eats, discussing 2016 and what’s in store for the new year.
“We finished 2016 with a balanced budget, so it was really great not to start this year off with a deficit. We’ve made a lot changes to the budget this year in hopes that we could offer services that we didn’t have and find other ways to benefit the downtown,” said Gallant during the meeting.
“I’m really proud how we’ve engaged with other organizations as we were doing things like the urban plan and other initiatives,” said Pierre Gallant, the president of Downtown Summerside Inc.
“We’ve learned a lot as we went and I think it helped us prep more for 2017. I’m really excited for the Urban Core Plan. That was a big thing for me it was great to work with the board and work with them on how we can work together with Summerside.”
On Wednesday, the group held their annual general meeting at Open Eats, discussing 2016 and what’s in store for the new year.
“We finished 2016 with a balanced budget, so it was really great not to start this year off with a deficit. We’ve made a lot changes to the budget this year in hopes that we could offer services that we didn’t have and find other ways to benefit the downtown,” said Gallant during the meeting.
One of those services is the Façade Program Downtown Summerside Inc. is hoping to launch.
“I hope the program gets used,” said Pam Montgomery, the Executive director of the group.
With the program, businesses in the downtown can apply for partial funding to revamp their storefront.
“We have a limited amount of money to start with. But you have to do what you can, even if it starts as what I call a paint program.
“Businesses would have to submit quotes and applications and from there, if all goes well, they pay for 50 per cent of their project and we pay the other half. At least that’s what we have tentatively planned.”
Another project Montgomery is hoping to see launch successfully is the associate membership program.
“Because we are a boundary organization, when it was first established, property owners had the opportunity to opt out of belonging to the Business Improvement Act, which is why we have really weird boundary lines.
“In other BIAs there is something called the associate membership program, which is to engage businesses that are near the boundaries with the initiatives and activities that happen within the boundaries.
“For us, not only would we like to improve our reach, but it would also give us the ability to test the interest levels in changing the boundaries. That said, we hope to run the program and gain engagement over the next couple of years to see what the feel is and then maybe apply to city and the province to see about changing things since it falls provincial jurisdiction.”
As for returning initiatives, Downtown Summerside is hoping to see the Bench Diaries, sidewalk sale, Witches on Water Street and the Santa Claus parade continue to prosper.
“We’re also going to start something called Playing the Parks. I thought about bringing it to Summerside after visiting Toronto in the fall. It would feature musical performances by local artists in our green spaces in the city, and then hopefully we can develop it into something bigger.”
