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5. SUPPORT TO
DOWNTOWN-AREA BIAs PARTICULARLY AFFECTED BY INFRASTRUCTURE RESTORATION,
ECONOMIC RECESSION AND LINGERING EFFECTS OF THE PUBLIC TRANSIT STRIKE SOUTIEN
AUX zac DU CENTRE-VILLE PARTICULIÈREMENT AFFECTÉES PAR LA RESTAURATION DES
INFRASTRUCTURES, LA RÉCESSION ÉCONOMIQUE ET LES SÉQUELLES DE LA GRÈVE DANS LE
TRANSPORT EN COMMUN |
That Council approve:
1.
The funding
required to implement a promotional campaign that would seek to restore public
visitation to and business activity within downtown-area business improvement
areas (BIAs); and
2.
The cost of the campaign be borne by
the transit budget and covered by a contribution from the Transit Reserve.
RECOMMANDATIONS DU
COMITÉ
Que le Conseil approuve:
1.
les crédits nécessaires pour la mise
en œuvre d’une campagne de promotion qui viserait à rétablir la fréquentation
et l’activité marchande des zones d’amélioration commerciale (ZAC) du
centre-ville; et
2.
finance la campagne au moyen du budget des services de transport
en commun, grâce à une contribution provenant de la réserve pour le transport
en commun.
DOCUMENTATION
1.
Deputy City Manager of City Operations report dated
14 April 2009 (ACS2008-COS-CCS-0001).
Corporate Services and
Economic Development Committee
Comité des services organisationnels et du développement économique
and Council / et au Conseil
14 April 2009 / le 14 avril 2009
Steve Kanellakos, Deputy City Manager/Directeur
municipal adjoint,
City
Operations/Opérations municipales
Contact Person / Personne ressource :
Denis Abbott, Director, Communications and Customer
Service /
Directeur,
Communications et service à la clientèle
(613)
580-2424 x12434, denis.abbott@ottawa.ca
That the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee
recommend Council approve:
1.
The funding
required to implement a promotional campaign that would seek to restore public
visitation to and business activity within downtown-area business improvement
areas (BIAs); and
2.
The cost of the campaign be borne by
the transit budget and covered by a contribution from the Transit Reserve.
Que le Comité des services organisationnels et du développement
économique recommande au Conseil approuve:
1.
les crédits nécessaires pour la mise
en œuvre d’une campagne de promotion qui viserait à rétablir la fréquentation
et l’activité marchande des zones d’amélioration commerciale (ZAC) du
centre-ville; et
2.
de financer la campagne au moyen du
budget des services de transport en commun, grâce à une contribution provenant
de la réserve pour le transport en commun.
Throughout the public transit strike, the City
of Ottawa heard that it was very difficult for people to shop and support
downtown businesses. Primarily caused by the loss of public transit services,
many downtown businesses felt a marked reduction in their customer base, which
ultimately lead to a precipitous reduction in operating revenues. Transit
strike impacts were exacerbated by the onset of the current economic downturn
and, for several BIAs, major public infrastructure work occurring in 2008 and
continuing into 2009.
Council has recognized the
impact of the strike on downtown businesses and passed a motion on December 19,
2008 directing staff to "report
back to Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee in the first
quarter of 2009 with respect to what measures are available to provide
assistance due to the loss of business activity in the affected Business
Improvement Areas due to the transit strike."
During the same timeframe,
representatives of the Ottawa chambers of commerce and BIAs met with staff from
the Economic Development Division and the Communications and Customer Service
Branch to consider what joint efforts could be initiated to restore public interest
in shopping in the downtown area. A working group comprised of City staff and
six BIA representatives met on several occasions to prepare a marketing
communications proposal for the City’s consideration.
A motion was passed at the March 23 meeting of the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee directing staff to “bring back a report at the next meeting of the CSEDC outlining the details of a promotional campaign to support downtown area BIAs including: Bank Street BIA, Sparks Street BIA, Somerset Chinatown BIA, Preston Street BIA, Wellington West BIA, ByWard Market BIA, Downtown Rideau BIA and Glebe BIA.”
This staff report presents the proposal to support the efforts of the
downtown-area business community to restore public interest and awareness of
the advantages of shopping, visiting and obtaining services in the downtown
area.
DISCUSSION
On January 26, 2009, City staff met with
representatives from the Ottawa chambers of commerce and BIAs. At this meeting,
several items were discussed including the legislative limitations on municipal tax relief to impacted
businesses, transit-strike mitigation measures, and ideas on restoring resident
interest and consumer spending in Ottawa’s downtown.
The meeting concluded with several actions for both
the City and the local business representations, the most notable being the
establishment of a working group of City staff and six BIA executive directors
to work with the City on a promotional awareness
campaign focused on restoring public interest in visiting and supporting
downtown-area businesses.
The working group has
subsequently met on several occasions to finalize a comprehensive proposal for
a multi-week communications outreach campaign. While the primary geographical
area for the campaign would be the eight BIAs referenced in the motion [Bank
Street BIA, Sparks Street BIA, Somerset Chinatown BIA, Preston Street BIA,
Wellington West BIA, ByWard Market BIA, Downtown Rideau BIA and Glebe BIA], all BIAs in the city would benefit through active linkages on a campaign
website and other alternate media platforms.
A comprehensive awareness campaign to rejuvenate downtown-area shopping and visiting would cost approximately $211,000. These costs represent the entire budget necessary to develop and execute campaign themes, advertising, media relations, website development, and other forms of promotional support for the campaign.
The campaign would additionally be supported substantially by the BIAs and the local businesses they represent. Business community support would include the following:
q Direct mail and other outreach initiatives with local businesses and clients
q Media relations and logistical support in organizing campaign-related public events
q E-media technical assistance for positioning campaign themes and information on BIA websites
q
Provision of major campaign prizes.
As the public transit strike was a primary contributing factor in defining the need to develop the campaign, it is recommended that the cost of the campaign be borne by the transit budget and covered by a contribution from the Transit Reserve.
Considering the City has limited options to
provide tax relief, a City-supported promotional campaign to encourage wider
public support for downtown-area businesses impacted by ongoing infrastructure
restoration, severe economic downturn, and the lingering effects of the public
transit strike would represent broad support for the business community across
the city. The anticipated spillover impact of the campaign, as well as the all-inclusive
measures designed to appeal to all geographic business areas, would help to
stimulate recovery of downtown-area businesses, encourage local spending, and
sustain employment.
City staff worked closely with a representative group of six BIA to develop the campaign proposal. The BIA representatives played a vital role in providing direction on campaign approach and the feasible scope of the initiative.
There are no legal risk
management impediments to implementing any of the recommendations in this
report.
Funds are available in the Transit Reserve to fund the promotional campaign recommended in this report.
Staff will action any direction received as part of consideration of this report.