London is adding new programs and expanding some efforts in its core area action plan to help recovery in the hard-hit downtown and Old East Village.
London is adding new programs and expanding some efforts in its core area action plan to help recovery in the hard-hit downtown and Old East Village.
City council will be asked to sign off on an additional $1.06 million needed to create or extend 10 downtown efforts, over and above what’s already funded through the multimillion-dollar core area action plan. The goal is to roll out programs and events quickly, within a matter of weeks.
“Coming out of the pandemic, one of the things I know we’re really hit with in the downtown right now, is trying new things and seeing how they stick. It’s different, right? No matter how we want to look at it, at the end of the day, our downtown is much different than it was pre-pandemic,” Ward 13 Coun. John Fyfe-Millar said, adding he likes the approach recommended by city staff.
Among the recommendations from staff:
- Expanding the “co-ordinated informed response” team that would include adding two bylaw officers and expand their work into evenings and weekends, for $315,000.
- Adding new events and “activations” to bring people back to the core, including efforts outside Dundas Place and targeting specific groups, such as families on summer vacation, seniors, or cultural communities, at a cost of $100,000.
- Create a gift card program encouraging downtown office workers to buy lunch from a local restaurant, at a cost of $100,000.
- Offer more grants for security gates to prevent break-ins and vandalism, with an extra $100,000 covering another 10 to 20 properties.
- Expand marketing and promotion and educate the public on work being done, at no cost.
The core area action plan included work that cost taxpayers $5 million last year.
“We have to be open to new things all the time and be very, very flexible and nimble. If something is not having the impact we want, we have to be able to put it aside and say, ‘That’s not doing what we want it to do; we have to try something else,’” Fyfe-Millar said.
That’ll mean carefully monitoring crowd counts for returning events such as Sunfest to see if the turnout returns to normal levels after two years of COVID-19 restrictions and in the wake of all the new strategies, he said.
Barbara Maly, director of Downtown London, did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
City staff also are reporting on 35 programs in place to help boost business and reduce vacancies in the core. The 23-page report, heading to committee of the whole along with the core action plan updates next week, is intended to offer an “inventory of current actions” and doesn’t offer any new initiatives. Existing projects will be evaluated later this year and new ventures could come to council in 2023, as part of a vacancy reduction strategy underway at city hall.
Fyfe-Millar said 16 new businesses have opened downtown so far this year, what he called a “fantastic” number, but suggested it will still take several years to see the vacancy rate rebound, after planned housing developments bring new residents to the core.
Getting more Londoners back to the core – and addressing what’s keeping them away, by boosting safety and helping those who are homeless – is crucial, the ward councilor said.
“I’m a big believer. I think a downtown is for everyone,” he said, citing the need for more public washrooms.
“As we go into the summer, we need some of those immediate actions.”