By Spencer Sterritt

Where does the Downtown Nanaimo BIA go from here?

Feb 8, 2017 | 10:50 AM

NANAIMO — After half of their budget was suddenly cut when the City of Nanaimo withdrew their funding, the Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association (DNBIA) is in a bind.

Their funding was cut in January, forcing them to hold an emergency meeting at the beginning of February to find out how the organization can proceed.

“We effectively have to start fresh,” DNBIA president John Cooper said. Until the next downtown business levy is released by the city on July 1, $32,000 is available. It will pay for staff, which has been cut from four to two, and any projects the organization wants to undertake, such as improvements to Diana Krall Plaza.

“The challenge we have is trying to figure out how we’re going to maintain some staff to do the work. We’ve got the money but we don’t have anyone to do the work.”

The funding was removed by the City after a core review showed the current model, where the City matched the $250,000 levy from businesses, wasn’t recommended. The DNBIA was the only organization of this type in Canada to receive a matching grant from the city.

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“I’ve always believed it to be a trailblazing program that is hugely beneficial to the citizens of Nanaimo,” Cooper said. “The city of Nanaimo is very invested in the future of downtown so it made sense to match that levy, but it’s been discontinued.”

For the next 23 months, instead of the City provided $250,000 to the association, the money has been reduced to $113,000 and opened up for other events.

City councillor Jerry Hong, who is a business owner himself with the Queens Hotel downtown, said the new method will allow for more variety in terms of downtown events since it won’t solely be run by the DNBIA.

“As a business owner downtown, that’s what I wanted to see the most of the DNBIA be focused on, marketing and events planning for the people of downtown,” Hong said. “It’s great that now there’s a dedicated amount of money for downtown events.”

He said even though the City withdrew their funding for the association, it doesn’t mean downtown will suffer. He highlighted upcoming celebrations such as Canada’s 150th birthday and Hometown Hockey as events which will promote the downtown.

“How downtowns work is they’re eclectic and have such variety. We’d love to see that variety downtown…and that’s what the City is constantly trying to do,” he said.

The new amount of money provided for downtown events will be accessed through a grant, but Cooper said there’s been confusion about how to apply.

“The city has not provided the process with which that grant can be accessed. We’d love to get access to that money, we’d just like to find out how,” he said.

What does the DNBIA do?

In comments to NanaimoNewsNOW, many residents expressed concern about the number of homeless people downtown and asked why the DNBIA wasn’t doing anything about it.

Cooper clarified what they can do and what limits they face for revitalizing downtown.

“It’s a common misconception. We have no ability to influence that. We don’t have a police force,” he said. “We can only write nasty letters and let the bylaw services, the RCMP and the City be made aware of the problem, which we’ve done consistently.”

He said many of their merchants have been handicapped by the transient population and the image problem it creates for downtown.

Finding safety and security measures has been brought up many times at meetings, but Cooper said it’s a difficult challenge determining what they can actually do.

“If there was a solution that made sense for the board, I think they’d get behind it but I’ve yet to hear of an idea that’s viable.”

spencer.sterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit