The Downtown Renfrew Business Improvement Area — DRBIA.— is an arm’s length group that operates under the auspices of the Town of Renfrew, and as such receives a budget from the corporation to pursue initiatives and planning dedicated towards improvement and promotion of the town’s downtown core.
What makes such a group particularly effective is the fact that it’s composed exclusively of business owners and commercial property owners that all share a keen interest in the viability and economic success of downtown, the heart of almost any community. These business and commercial interests all contribute to the DRBIA operating budget as well, as they’re all assessed a membership levy, something that presents a bit of an issue on another topic, but not to this one.
The point is that we have people who are invested doing the day to day stuff, but there’s also a financial and legislative tether that means that Renfrew Town Council is the supreme authority when it comes to DRBIA decision-making.
Two items related to DRBIA caught my attention recently in a way that made me want to comment.
One had to do with a proposed sign commemorating Renfrew’s history, and the other had to do with the familiar Nativity Scene presentation in Low Square during the Christmas season.
My comments as to the first are somewhat jurisdictional. Commentary on the second is more difficult.
The DRBIA has proposed placing a sign commemorating the history of Renfrew’s downtown, but they wish to place the sign at the intersection of Railway Avenue and the Algonquin Trail. So right off the bat there’s the whole thing that the preferred location is outside the jurisdictional purview of the BIA, although there’s really nothing to say that the organization can’t promote itself outside its own borders. The whole idea is to entice people in, and not to congratulate them for already being there.
There’s also the fact that the spot in question may well be land owned by Renfrew County, and maybe even the town itself. Who knows? Maybe 70 years ago somebody hammered down a survey stake that can help us figure that out. But I don’t want any survey teams rattling around down there for fear they’ll stumble upon unmapped infrastructure from days gone by.
The DRBIA would also like to have their own branding, rather than the town’s, on the sign.
I guess the most salient point is that the DBRIA is a function of the Town of Renfrew, or at least a de facto function owing to the financial support from and approval power of Town Council. So regardless of the branding of the sign, or the placement of the sign, the interests converge.
Two things make the site selection stand out for me.
First, the Algonquin Trail is a significant recreational trail with plenty of traffic all year long. I surmise there’s significant potential for winter travellers using the trail who may be enticed to visit downtown, so there’s that.
But it also happens to be a huge historical site in our town’s overall history.
The train station was there. Not just any train station. But Renfrew’s train station.
Which means that, back in the day, when this place was rocking and rolling, just about everyone and anyone coming into town would land at this spot. So all the politicians, the performers for the O’Brien Opera House, the hockey players playing for or against our Millionaires, all of them spent time at that location. The Timberwolf Express would show up on Friday nights from Ottawa packed with fans coming to check out our superstars. I’m leaving out all the guys who worked in the logging camps, since they stumbled out of the forest to find what they were looking for in one of the many local bars, hotels, and taverns. They weren’t necessarily part of this warm, fuzzy picture I’m trying to paint at the old train station.
M.J. O’Brien himself lived but a block away, where he’d sit on his second story balcony and watch the trains roll by. Those O’Brien mansions, and all the other former heavy-hitter homes in that area, and of that era, still stand with all kinds of stories to tell.
I know the DBRIA intent is likely more centred on attracting visitors into the core, and this is a lucrative audience they’re communicating with. But holy smokes, from a historical perspective, I don’t think you could have put this proposed sign on any more of a historical spot than this one, if approved.
So I guess I’m not troubled by any jurisdictional arguments.
As to the Nativity Scene.
The DRBIA has requested permission to move forward with what I suppose is a custom, and that is the installation of a Nativity Scene re-creation at Low Square.
So far as I know, there have never been any real difficulties associated with this, and I think it’s always been done to a good standard aesthetically, always in good taste. I suppose it’s unfortunate about all those office pools forecasting when the Baby Jesus would go missing, something that used to happen with some regularity, almost in its own right a part of local Christmas lore.
There was some procedural commentary made around whether Council should make this an automatic approval or revisit it on an annual basis, and it was decided to go with the latter.
Another reason for regular permissions is taking notice that, perhaps somewhere down the road, the composition of our residents, even our downtown business owners, may not be as widely reflected through nativity scenes, especially on the property of Town Hall. Town Hall is, or ought to be, neutral ground, something the mayor pointed out, and he was correct in doing so.
This can be an unpopular position to take or to bring up, but there it is.
To me, those nativity scenes were awesome, but for the wrong reason. As much as I was a Christian, what really drew me was the scuttlebutt on how they were going to keep the poor Baby Jesus’ head on, and not have it carted off into the winter night by British soccer fans.
But there may come a time — and maybe there won’t — where the population is less identifying as Christian.
Is it as simple as allowing all faiths, or anyone really, from periodically making displays at Low Square? If that’s the case there can potentially be all manner of displays. In fact there already have been as Low Square successfully hosts all manner of festivals and events throughout the year. But this is a static display we’re talking about here, not a Saturday festival, and that means it endures in place for a couple of weeks, maybe more. So compared to a Craft Beer Festival, a nativity scene is more of a statement piece. Does the make it different, or different enough to require different thinking? Or is Low Square fair game for anyone with the proper paperwork?
I’m still kind of sorting that all out in my own mind.
I d know here’s absolutely nothing to stop anybody or any group from erecting a Nativity Scene on their own property, I suppose subject to bylaws. That said, any other group would have the same opportunity to do so, in their own way, to celebrate something important to them.
But on their own property. And subject to bylaw requirements. And with not a sniff of any potential controversy.
As to the decision at hand, I believe the vote passed and the office pools can be dusted off for another year. And this season anyways, there will be a DRBIA-sponsored Nativity Scene on Low Square.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 