Following last week’s controversial move to drastically reduce the See You on the Patio program in 2022, a few downtown businesses are banding together to challenge the Downtown Orillia Management Board’s (DOMB) decision.
Initially rolled out amidst stringent public health measures in 2020, the program closed stretches of Mississaga Street to vehicles, which brought restaurant patios out to the roadside and encouraged pedestrian traffic throughout the downtown area.
Michael Fredson, chair of DOMB, said last week that the board’s decision was made in part due a membership survey that indicated downtown businesses were split on whether to keep doing the program every weekend, or to only roll it out during special events.
The decision to cancel the weekly version of the event passed 4-1, and numerous residents and businesses have expressed disapproval since.
Among these are The Northern Joinery owner David Shaw, as well as Refillery District and Knight Vision owner Tyler Knight, who both viewed the decision as harmful to downtown businesses.
“If our downtown isn't unique, and it doesn't draw people with things like this, then they're not going to come visit any stores,” Knight told OrilliaMatters. “People might go to Brewery Bay or Rustica … for dinner, but they're going to walk past all the other stores and they're going to say what a cool downtown this is the day they close the streets.”
Along with volunteers from other businesses, Knight and Shaw plan to canvass the downtown on Tuesday (April 19) to petition other businesses on whether they would like to see the program continue.
The DOMB's email survey, Shaw said, did ask businesses whether they would like the program to continue, but suggested that the DOMB might not be able to financially support the program as much as it had in the past.
“It was not just yes or no, it was yes with caveats,” Shaw told OrilliaMatters. “Essentially it was laid out that the businesses would be on the hook, because (DOMB) decided that they didn’t have it in their budget.”
“We want to get true data to provide to council before they make a final decision on this,” Shaw said. “It was 4-1, and those four people that voted no, for whatever reasons they have, they're the ones that shut down (a variety of) businesses from having these magical nights.”
Last week, Coun. Rob Kloostra - council’s representative on the DOMB - said the board is not ‘flush with cash’ after helping with the program over the past two years.
Knight said the financial costs would be negligible and easy to cover should enough businesses choose to participate.
“It's a very nominal fee, like if you break $20,000 down over 20 nights (with) 20 businesses, that's roughly $60 per business per night to have this happen,” he said. “It just seems so strange that DOMB made this decision based on that.”
The survey used in the decision-making process should have been carried out in-person, Shaw argued, similarly to the canvassing efforts himself and Knight have planned this week.
“This is really how it should have been done from the get go, not just sending it one confusing survey,” he said. “A lot of the retailers have even come forward now and said, ‘Hey, I didn't get the survey,’ or ‘I did get the survey but we were just so busy and we didn't respond in time.’”
“People are more likely to voice something they don't want, rather than something they do want - that's just human nature.”
Both Shaw and Knight, whose businesses do not directly benefit from expanded patio space, said the event had a catalytic effect on the downtown by getting people to check out shops after having dinner or a drink.
“What better way can you find, through the course of the summer, thousands of people walking past your business and paying attention,” Shaw said. “It's a no-brainer, and I can't even fathom the fact that some of the old guard just can't see that.”
The board’s decision to cancel the weekly event will go before city council for ratification at its next meeting (April 25), said the DOMB chair, Michael Fredson.
“It's kind of a trickle down effect, right? The province can overturn anything a city does and the city can overturn anything that a municipal board does, which is what we fall under,” he told OrilliaMatters. “My concern as the chair is that we're going to have a little bit of pie on our face (because) we made this decision.”
The next council meeting is scheduled for April 25.
Coun. Rob Kloostra declined an opportunity to provide comments for this story.
