Renfrew’s downtown Business Improvement Area is expanding, pushing its borders outwards into the ancillary streets, or streets secondary to the main drag of Raglan Street.
This is no small thing, especially if you happen to live, and/or do business within this tertiary area that is now to be annexed by this entity that derives its authority through Renfrew Town Council, and through them from the Municipal Act of 2001.
My assertion that the Municipal Act is a deeply flawed piece of legislation is not abated by recent events, and this is just another one of those recent events under discussion. It makes me wonder if the authors of that piece of legislation had drafted it while at their local pub, since it causes as many problems as it sets out to solve, and satisfies the argument that the crafters were either egregiously distracted, had agendas to satisfy, or were just functionally incompetent.
The BIA invasion into the surrounding environs is another one of those seemingly endless staff-driven things that appears before a somewhat perplexed Council for approval, almost after-the-fact, because the timelines tend to be pretty tight. I wonder what the actual reasoning is?
Is the tax levy that members pay into the organization not enough to fund their projects? Is it an attempt to broaden their tax base to beef up their financials?
This is a key consideration, since the people and the businesses residing in the newly acquired area have absolutely no choice as to whether they wish to be members of the BIA. As well, they’re automatically levied with the BIA tax in addition to the taxes they already pay. In short, they’ve be forced to join a club and pay the membership fees, without any recourse other than a thirty-day period, perhaps a 60-day period in which to voice objections through a letter. It the objections represent less than 30% of the impacted businesses, the BIA can move in without any opposition. This bit of procedural sophistry doesn’t take into account the fact that many businesses rent their physical space, so it’s actually the landlord that gets the expansion notification from the town, with the onus being on the landlord to pass this information on to their tenants. And so, for the sake of argument, what if they don’t?
The Clerk says that threshold was not met, with only two letters of objection received from a cohort of some 200 letters sent out by the town. Yet Councillor Andrew Dick, himself the operator of a downtown business interest, says his conversations with impacted business owners is in the area of a 50-50 split of support versus non-support. I can’t attest to the number of people Councillor Dick spoke to, or to the statistical integrity of his informal poll, but I can’t really throw my weight behind the town’s numbers either, dependant as they are on others like landlords passing the information onto their tenants in good faith.
Forgive my ignorance, but is it entirely out of the realm of common sense to mail the notification of intent to the business owners directly? Or is this another in a long list of things the Municipal Act pretends to know better than everyone and anyone else?
There is something fundamentally wrong with all of this.
To be compelled to participate financially in an organization that, at its core is an optional one for a municipality to empower in the first place, is a little bit of a stretch.
No town has to have a BIA. It’s not a mandated thing. It’s an allowed thing, but it’s also a thing where the boys and girls over at the legislative writing warehouse couldn’t resist getting their fingerprints all over. But it sounds to me that, once it’s up, running, and official, it then becomes an inescapable reality. It’s another one of those monsters Dr. Frankenstein never seems to tire of creating. And it’s now swallowing up the streets and areas adjacent to Raglan Street, with no recourse other than the possibility of Council torpedoing it on the Chamber floor. The clerk wouldn’t like that too much, but we might be able to survive nonetheless.
There was a fairly significant BIA representation at Council the other night, as maybe eight members of what I can only assume were BIA types were in attendance, although I’m not entirely sure why. They didn’t say a word, offer a peep, not that they’d be allowed. I can’t say if they were there to glare, that intimidation technique often employed by dissatisfied citizens or business owners. If they were, I couldn’t exactly tell who they might be glaring at, although it wasn’t me, so for that I was a bit grateful. Of course, that might change if any of them manage to read this article. But for now, I should be okay.
They stayed for a period of time, then jetted for the door, possibly to hit up Finnegan’s and celebrate their successful attempt at leaning into democracy and making things happen.
There are business owners in the new area that are against the BIA’s largesse when it comes to inviting them into the club. They feel they don’t need the assistance of the organization, nor the extra tax burden.
After all, the BIA is simply another monster created through municipal fiat, made up of people with vested interests, and subject to all the vagaries of the human condition. If it’s like other, similar, organizations or boards, there is likely a pecking order, a hierarchy of influence if you will, where some folks naturally or with intent rise to the top of the influence and decision-making ladder, often to the exclusion of others.
Any time you join an organization or group, you sign on to the mission-statement of the group, the rules and regulations of the group, and pledge support to the direction of the group, even if you feel that direction is not something you’re entirely comfortable with. In short, you agree to have a pair of handcuffs applied where none existed before, and give others leverage over your decision-making. Generally speaking, a lot of people form their own businesses to acquire the very freedom that they partially surrender when joining a group such as this.
This is problematic even when joining is a choice. It’s even more problematic when the choice is made for you. Or worse, against your will. As a further transgression, the Municipal Act stipulates that the existing Board of Management of the BIA remains intact, so in effect, you’re being compelled to join an organization but have no guaranteed way of being included in the decision-making arm of that organization unless invited in.
There’s a bit of institutional arrogance involved when a group assigns itself the role of sole spokesperson for an entire community.
It’s absolutely okay for a business group to come together for what they perceive to be the common good. But membership in that group should be voluntary. I know this creates a less than perfect situation, what with the potential for a patch-work of businesses either participating or not participating. But that awkwardness can be avoided if the BIA is designated as being a downtown-only, Raglan Street-only affair. As in, if you own a business on Raglan Street between Hall and Monroe, you’re in. Otherwise, you’re out, unless you make the commitment on your own to join and absorb the additional tax levy. They do, after all, refer to themselves as the RDBIA, or Renfrew Downtown Business Improvement Area, so the only thing to master is what constitutes “downtown.” And, as well, who gets to make that determination is something that should be ascertained and possibly questioned.
Such a policy would enable the continuity of the downtown area with respect to promotions and events and participation therein, while also allowing businesses not in the downtown core to participate as well or sponsor other BIA events specific to themselves or any other member businesses in their geographic area.
Compelling an entity to join another entity is not really a cool way to do anything, especially if the compelled entity has to abide by expectations and fees not of their choosing. As much good as the BIA does in town, and for the downtown, it’s not for it to determine the direction of business owners not currently in their group.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 