Featured Guest
You’ll find this guest among our growing roll of Urban Champions.
Michael Shuman
Director of Local Economy Projects, Neighbourhood Associates Corporation
Judith Veresuk
Executive Director, Regina Downtown Business Improvement District
Jake Stacey
Executive Vice President Sales and Training, LGM Financial Services
Charles Montgomery
Author, Happy City
5 Key
Takeaways
A roundup of the most compelling ideas, themes and quotes from this candid conversation|
Additional Reading
& Resources
1. The intersection of public health, equity and local economy
Many think of main streets simply as commercial centres, however COVID-19 has shown us that main streets are where public health, equity, and the local economy intersect. Main streets are the heart of communities of all sizes and can take many forms (from strip malls to major intersections). By making main streets walkable, connected and home to a variety of local businesses, cities can support healthy social and physical access to the goods, services and public spaces that people need.
2. We need to re-think how public space is used on main streets
By re-thinking the ways in which the physical space is used on main streets, cities can use tactical urban interventions to make main streets more equitable, accessible and profitable. “Flex zones” have been introduced in cities in California (Oakland and Mountain View) as a way to empower local business owners to use the sidewalk and parking spaces in front of their businesses to better accommodate their community – whether through increased patio space, pedestrian access or parking. The current public health crisis has highlighted the need for cities to consider how main streets can be designed more creatively to serve more people safely and effectively.
3. Anchor businesses as amenities
Local businesses are often listed as amenities in neighbourhoods by condominiums and new developments, typically setting the context for the local identity. These anchor businesses function as more than just cafes, grocery stores, restaurants or retail, often providing support for other small businesses in the community by attracting local customers and fostering local partnerships. A more intentional approach to supporting anchor businesses as such is needed in order to ensure the succession of these businesses and the healthy function of a main street.
4. Recovery will not be replication of what was
With many main street businesses pivoting to digital platforms, the question arises as to whether digital and physical storefronts can co-exist. Is the digital main street the end of brick and mortar? Main street recovery from COVID-19 will require local businesses to develop new approaches to their business and service models, making it imperative for businesses to develop online functionality no matter what comes next. As cities change the ways in which public spaces are accessed, businesses will need to grow in tandem.
5. Main streets run on cash flow
Federal support for small businesses will not be enough to help main streets to survive COVID-19. Local businesses will need direct investment from community mobilization before the government is able to introduce new progressive policies that address the need for direct capital investment and tax reform. Investment in main streets through local procurement, reduced credit rates, and a community investment approach to purchasing will help small businesses through an increase in direct cash flow.
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Intl Ave. Calgary’s Culinary and Cultural Avenue
Lithuanian capital to be turned into vast open air cafe, The Guardian
Zoning By-law 05-200 – Commercial and mixed-use zones, Hamilton Planning & Economic Development Department
Pavement-to-plaza Wellbeing Assessment, Happy City
City of Calgary Active Main Streets Projects
Centre for Connected Communities
Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust: Affordability through community ownership, Lauryn Drainie, Vancity
Strategies for assisting live music venues, Toronto Media Arts Centre
University of Waterloo Legacy Leadership Lab
Community Investment Fund Handbook & Supplementary Resources, National Coalition for Community Capital
Coronavirus: ‘Lockdown is opportunity of a lifetime for bike lanes’, BBC
Full Panel
Transcript
Note to readers: This video session was transcribed using auto-transcribing software. Manual editing was undertaken in an effort to improve readability and clarity. Questions or concerns with the transcription can be directed to events@canurb.org with “transcription” in the subject line.
Full Audience
Chatroom Transcript
Note to reader: Chat comments have been edited for ease of readability. The text has not been edited for spelling or grammar. For questions or concerns, please contact events@canurb.org with “Chat Comments” in the subject line.12:02:38 From Canadian Urban Institute:Folks, please change your chat settings to “all panelists and attendees” so everyone can see your comments.
12:03:16 From Canadian Urban Institute:Keep the conversation going #citytalk #bringbackmainstreet@canurb
12:04:54 From Venczel Gloria:Hello from North Vancouver!
12:04:58 From Canadian Urban Institute:You can find transcripts and recordings of today’s and all our webinars at
https://www.canurb.org/citytalk
12:05:18 From Lisa Mactaggart:Joining from Guelph, a city with beautiful main streets.
12:05:21 From Sakshi Nanda:Hello from Mumbai! Looking forward to this talk!
12:05:28 From alison to All panelists:Hello from International Ave in Calgary
12:05:50 From paul mackinnon:Micheal’s ideas about supporting local community as our best strategy is coming to fruition! Michael, what POLICY changes can we push for to help this effort, while gov’t is really listening.
12:05:54 From Maureen Luoma:Happy to be joining in from Sudbury BIA
12:06:16 From Janette MacDonald:Hi from London, Ontario. Hey Paul & Maureen!
12:06:26 From Gillian Mason:Hello from Scarborough with its abundance of strip malls and local spaces at the heart of multiple communities.
12:06:29 From Canadian Urban Institute:CUI is looking for volunteers to help us continue the great work of our COVID-19 initiatives. If you can help, please contact us at covidresponse@canurb.org
12:06:31 From Emily Wall, CUI Staff:Today’s panel:
Charles Montgomery – https://twitter.com/thehappycity
https://thehappycity.com
Michael Shuman – https://twitter.com/smallmart
https://michaelhshuman.com
Jake Stacey – https://twitter.com/akajacquelyns
Home
Judith Veresuk – https://twitter.com/downtownjudith
Regina Downtown Staff
12:07:06 From 0 Jamieson to All panelists:Walter here from Ryerson University.
12:07:30 From Frances Wilbur to All panelists:hello from Peterborough. A new website to help our downtown theboro.com, worth checking out.
12:08:22 From Kay Matthews:Hi from the Ontario BIA Association (OBIAA). www.obiaa.com. Kay Matthews – kay.matthews@obiaa.com
12:08:51 From Brian Yeomans:Hello from Brian Yeomans, Downtown Windsor BIA (DWBIA)
12:09:58 From Jonathan Giggs:from Port Credit in Mississauga
12:10:16 From Alyssa Valente:Hello from Toronto!
12:10:33 From Amy Calder to All panelists:hello from west end of Toronto!
12:10:41 From Howaida Hassan to All panelists:Hello! Howaida from the City of Edmonton.
12:10:55 From Michael Shuman:You can learn more about my points on my blogs at www.michaelhshuman.com
12:11:11 From Canadian Urban Institute:Reminding attendees to please change your chat settings to “all panelists and attendees” so everyone can see your comments.
12:11:35 From Laurel Davies Snyder:Hello from London, ONT home of 5 BIAs and many traditional main streets.
12:11:36 From Chinelo Enemuo:Hello from Nigeria!
12:11:58 From Howaida Hassan:Hello! Howaida Hassan from the City of Edmonton
12:12:34 From alison:Hello again from International Ave in Calgary. Calgary’s Culinary and Cultural Capital.www.intlave.ca
12:12:49 From Lenore Swystun:Really appreciate these sessions. Judith, great to see you representing Saskatchewan. – Lenore from Saskatoon
12:12:55 From Mark Campbell:Hi from Roncesvalles Village, in Toronto.
12:13:41 From paul mackinnon:Hi from Halifax! Great to ‘see’ some familiar faces and names!
12:13:46 From Mike Mattos:Please address how retail on main street can survive with reduced traffic and high rents/drastic tax increases. Any developer will want to build condos near transit, NOT retail. SO retailers are doomed until those issues are addressed.
12:14:18 From Alyssa Valente:Queen St West!
12:14:19 From Chantal Tranchemontagne to All panelists:Hello from Cornwall, ON!
12:14:19 From Mary Kenny:Halifax
12:14:21 From Frances Wilbur:hello from Peterborough. A new website to help our downtown theboro.com, worth checking out.
12:14:21 From Mariyan Boychev:Hi from Toronto
12:14:24 From Melissa L to All panelists:Hi from Vancouver!
12:14:31 From Michael Gallant:Hello from Peterborough!
12:14:33 From Christy Chrus to All panelists:Hi from the Town of Whitby! (2 historic main streets – Downtown Whitby and Downtown Brooklin)
12:14:34 From Debi Croucher:Hello from Downtown Windsor BIA
12:14:34 From Dominic Ali to All panelists:Yonge Street in Toronto
12:14:37 From Belinda Wick-Graham:small town Minto Ontario (Clifford, Harriston and Palmerston)
12:14:39 From Lisa Thomson-Roop:Hello from Downtown Orillia Ontario!
12:14:41 From Tanya FInk:Hello from Vancouver
12:14:41 From Heather Bennett:Bloor Street Toronto
12:14:41 From Mike Mattos:From Mount Dennis in Toronto, a focus area for redevelopment on the Crosstown LRT
12:14:42 From Gillian Mason:Hello from Scarborough with its abundance of strip malls and local spaces at the heart of multiple communities.
12:14:42 From Diane Kalen-Sukra to All panelists:Hello from Kootenays, BC!
12:14:42 From reg nalezyty:Hello from Thunder Bay
12:14:43 From Sara Hines to All panelists:Hi from Bloordale in Toronto!
12:14:44 From Eric Bergeron:Hello from Cornwall
12:14:44 From Jennifer Roth:Hello from Downtown Hamilton!
12:14:46 From Valerie Fox:Hi from Cabbagetown Toronto
12:14:55 From Francesca MacKinnon:Hello from Montreal!
12:14:57 From Felipe Canavera:Hello from Edmonton Alberta!!!!!!
12:14:58 From Kitty Yung:Hi from City of Vaughan
12:15:00 From Jean-Marc Mangin:Hi from Montreal
12:15:00 From Claudia McKoy:Hello from Brampton
12:15:01 From Nancy Arsenault:Comox BC, tourism industry training and development focus
12:15:02 From Ralph Cipolla to All panelists:hello from Orillia ontario
12:15:03 From James Vaclavek:Hello from County of Wellington!
12:15:09 From Katherine Danks:Hello from midtown Toronto
12:15:12 From Tanya FInk:Hello from Vancouver!
12:15:16 From alison:My concern is that e-commerce could take away the need for brick and mortar storefronts which will lead to even more issues.
12:15:16 From Donald McConnell:Hello from Downtown Sault Ste. Marie
12:15:17 From Olusola Olufemi to All panelists:Oakville downtown
12:15:20 From Robyn Small to All panelists:From St. Lawrence Market BIA 🙂
12:15:24 From Tracy Tang:Hello, from the lovely lake-side City of Burlington. Go Brant Street and Lakeshore’s downtown.
12:15:26 From Dana Kripki:Hi from Saskatoon
12:15:27 From Trevor Davison:Hello from Calgary!
12:15:32 From Ivana Osojnicki:Hi from Kitchener!
12:15:32 From Wendy Gaertner to All panelists:Hello from Aurora,
12:15:54 From Nora Cottrill to All panelists:Hi from Toronto’s waterfront !
12:16:07 From Eunan Quinn:Checking in from Letterkenny, Ireland….huge parallels for the experiences here, particularly in relation to how quickly local stakeholders are mobilizing.
12:16:14 From Leasa Gibbons:Love this discussion – way to go Judith! It’s Leasa Gibbons with Regina’s Warehouse Business Improvement District. We get shit done!
12:16:17 From Dave Waldron:Wondering what the panelists thoughts are about deciding how much public space (roadways, etc.) should be used for restaurant/cafe/retail ‘spread’ while taking into account all needed uses, including mobility and access to businesses? What would be your criteria?
12:16:20 From alison:We have over 40 languages spoken on our stree
12:16:25 From alison:t
12:16:49 From Gil Penalosa:Hello Gil Penalosa, 8 80 Cities and living in Toronto, in middle of 3 great main streets: Roncy, Bloor West, Junction. All suffering, local business closing.
12:16:53 From RANDALL SHARP to All panelists:Randy Sharp West Broadway Vancouver
12:16:55 From Lester Brown:Why does Vancouver have a more robust Credit Union System than Toronto.? We have Credit Unions in Toronto but having lived in BC, I know that the Credit Unions are more robust there.
12:16:59 From Nadine Tischhauser:Hi from Riga, Latvia!
12:17:15 From alison:it has been very stressful seeing the suffering of ma and pa shops
12:17:29 From James McCallan:Hi all! Joining from the town of Montreal-West, and rooting for our community hubs and businesses along Westminster.
12:17:32 From Frank Miele:Hi from Ryerson Local Economic Development Certificate program which has BIAs and Downtown Revitalization as main discussion activities with our participants.
12:17:38 From Maureen Luoma:Question from Downtown Sudbury BIA (www.downtownsudbury.com) – how can we effectively expand the use of public space (for both restaurants and retailers) while at the same time not impacting or further creating a loss of on street parking, strengthening the opportunity for safe-distancing, etc
12:17:45 From Lester Brown:In The Distillery but interested in having robust main streets throughout Toronto.
12:18:10 From Abby S:If we recognize the importance of independents, and the role that restaurants in particular play, both in terms of supporting families, the point of entry for newcomers who may start small establishments as well as contributing to the vibrancy of Main Street…how do we change the model with regard to real estate and rentals as ownership of Main Street moves from landlord to bigger landlord and make if unaffordable for any establishment other than chain stores?
12:18:20 From Marty Williams:Hello from Downtown Guelph (Ontario).
12:18:20 From 0 Jamieson:Walter here from Ryerson University looking at the relationship of tourism/visitor industry and Man Streets.
12:18:22 From alison:Sudbury, our City relaxed sidewalks for patios
12:18:23 From Joanne Pickard to All panelists:Hello from Midland Ontario
12:19:02 From Maureen Luoma:Thanks Alison – we are currently in that discussion with the City and look like we will have the fees waived for this year
12:19:09 From alison:Business Revitalization Zones too
12:20:15 From paul mackinnon:Judith is the excellent chair of IDA (International Downtown Association) Canada. If there are BIDs on this call who are not involved, please reach out to Judith. We want to ensure we are well connected.
12:20:17 From alison:Hurrah!
12:20:44 From LoriAnn Girvan:Greetings from Artscape – artists and cultural organizations are part of the heart, health and hope of main streets of all forms!
12:21:38 From alison:Our bike shop is crazy busy-good news
12:21:39 From Geraldine Cahill:Hi, Geraldine Cahill, listening from Toronto. Director, UpSocial Canada and Chair, Jane’s Walk Steering Committee. Super interested in supporting main street surviving/thriving.
12:21:46 From Jennifer Roth:Hamilton also just passed policy to open up streets and parking lots for outdoor patios.
12:22:26 From alison:What is everyones experience with social disorder on your street during the pandemic?
12:22:31 From Lester Brown:Happy to see Charles on this panel. Great ideas.
12:22:43 From Sara Udow to All panelists:Hello – Sara from PROCESS here in Toronto. Have worked with BIAs affected from construction in TO and working with arts and culture across the GTHA. Interested in role of main streets in suburban settings (in addition to Toronto)
12:22:46 From Abby S:How does food security play into this conversation…there are neighbourhoods with no access to services at all…walkable or not.
12:22:50 From Maureen Luoma:Hi Jennifer – would you happen to have a link that you can share for this info??
12:22:55 From Mike Mattos:SOcial DIsorder is doing well
12:22:56 From Sara Udow:Hello – Sara from PROCESS here in Toronto. Have worked with BIAs affected from construction in TO and working with arts and culture across the GTHA. Interested in role of main streets in suburban settings (in addition to Toronto)
12:23:23 From alison:not in Alberta only business
12:23:40 From Gillian Mason:Social order fine in Scarb
12:24:11 From Venczel Gloria:Small Businesses, the providers of public spaces or the “third place” where people could meet their neighbours and build community in MetroVancouver, were already on the edge of closing because of speculation/taxes and the resulting triple net leases. Now with covid- another large hit, can neighbourhoods afford to give up on public spaces/social resilience provided by small businesses in the time of climate change + covid?
12:24:20 From Mike Mattos:Shootings and domestic violence has decreasd in Scarboro?
12:24:22 From 0 Jamieson:Given Mary’s expansion of discussion can we deal with poverty in the Main Street agenda
12:24:33 From Robert Plitt:Do we have a sense of the cities across the country that either have or don’t have significant numbers of “Main Streets”.
12:25:02 From Abby S:@Robert great question. Define Main Street
12:25:16 From Abby S:vs neighbourhood
12:25:21 From Nadine Tischhauser:Here in the Baltics: there was a good article on how the capital Vilnius in Lithuania is giving more open space to cafés and bars to allow social distancing. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/28/lithuanian-capital-to-be-turned-into-vast-open-air-cafe-vilnius
12:25:33 From alison:We have ten foot sidewalks from our new redesign so patios are easier for us
12:25:45 From Robert Plitt:One could suggest that the main streets in Calgary are 1950’s strip malls which are not walkable. How do we connect creative mobility solutions to these types of environemtnes.
12:25:47 From Kay Matthews:OBIAA has a list of communities across Ontario who do not have main streets and will be uploading this to ARCGIS over the summer
12:26:11 From Marisa Williams:Marisa from Caledon – how do we encourage landowners to lease their vacant storefronts rather than leaving them empty with the expectation that they can sell to land developers?
12:26:24 From Abby S:CSA—model
12:26:42 From Abby S:There are a few in Toronto area who have done this…(Montifiore Cheese)
12:26:43 From Venczel Gloria:Would love to hear more about curbside management on Main Street and the opportunities that covid has opened up with the new context?
12:26:58 From Mike Mattos:Tax policy has to penalize empty buildings
12:27:11 From Amy Calder to All panelists:What is preferable for a main street restaurant during covid recovery: facilitating delivery and curbside pick up, or increasing pedestrian traffic and enabling the creation of dedicated patio spaces?
12:27:20 From Tim Lee:Hi all! Hamilton’s comprehensive Zoning By-law introduced new commercial and mixed use zones in 2017 where the intent is to be flexible. Retail is any retail! Restaurant is any type of restaurant! All but one commercial zone permits residential uses. The intent is to improve our commercial main streets https://www.hamilton.ca/city-planning/official-plan-zoning-by-law/commercial-and-mixed-use-zones
12:27:22 From Jennifer Roth:Marisa – short term rental leases, low risk to future sales to developers.
12:27:35 From Olusola Olufemi to All panelists:Most Main streets in Developing Countries are disorderly and chaotic because of the informal sector and informal street trading, hawking activities that has taken over these streets thus blurring the meaning of space/place making and putting organised local businesses on the back seat. How can we possibly begin to bring order to these streets and intentionally separate informal trading from pedestrian and vehicular traffic? I know these issues are quite different from what obtains here in North America.
12:27:59 From alison:We have done research about community development corporations to redevelop land on our street
12:28:12 From Amy Calder:What is preferable for a main street restaurant during covid recovery: facilitating delivery and curbside pick up, or increasing pedestrian traffic and enabling the creation of dedicated patio spaces?
12:28:16 From alison:Will be in our wheelhouse here
12:28:34 From Lester Brown:I am one of the founders of CCEC, a community credit union in BC. We need more of these.
12:29:03 From alison:Co-operative based businesses which are owned by the community is the way forward
12:29:37 From Dave Waldron:Vancity’s Unity fund is an excellent idea! Happy, to invest in it with RRSP investment! When does Vancity expand (or at least its values) across BC, etc.?
12:29:47 From Patty Cuttell:Joining late — but want to give a shout out to Radish in Montreal who has developed a consolidated cooperative delivery platform / service.
12:30:05 From Patty Cuttell:Look at how to do something similar in Halifax.
12:30:33 From Mike Mattos:IS a guaranteed annual income a fundamental need to enable main street to survive?
12:30:47 From Robert Plitt:Kay, would love to see that study and learn about the methodology. Can it be replicated across the country?
12:31:11 From alison:Love to have VanCity on our street! Need to expand into Alberta please
12:31:55 From Gil Penalosa:Charles, you touched a great point. without density, main streets will disappear; COVID is just making it much faster. How to ‘piggy-back’ in the crisis to change land use regulations, as Minneapolis did citywide and Oregon did statewide. We need to be able to split current homes, easy and fast. Also to promote 4 – 10 stories on all arterials. It’s about economic development, physical / mental health, AND climate change. Urgency.
12:32:45 From LoriAnn Girvan:few main street businesses are property owners but still get the high cost of taxes passed on without getting upside of the value they create – there is an opportunity to extend opportunities like community land trusts to acquire and steward affordability for independent and NFP commercial and retail enterprises.
12:33:27 From alison:Problem with trade agreements regarding procurement.
12:33:37 From Ronny Yaron:Why can’t federal and provincial govt do something to affect the huge rents for retail which is the largest expense of retail enterprises ? The landlords are often speculators who don’t care if their tenants go bankrupt ?
12:34:05 From Gillian Mason:Yes: a lifetime in Scarborough
12:34:17 From Gillian Mason:yes: we do live in the blocks that surround that are.. these are our main streets.
12:34:37 From ALAN KAN:Mississauga has very few main streets except in isolated areas
12:34:38 From Michael Shuman:Start more community land trusts for both housing AND commercial centers…
12:34:43 From Robert Plitt:Would love to hear more about co-operatives. I think this is a huge opportunity. According to Future of Good, 70% of small and medium sized businesses in Canada will transfer ownership in the next decade. Huge opportunity for new co-operative worker owned models
12:35:26 From alison:Robert Pitt talk to me later. I’ve been working with some great partners on this
12:35:41 From Jennifer Roth:Where was the ‘flex zone’
12:35:46 From Sara Udow:Agree with LoriAnn. We are exploring community land trust opportunities some with some of our municipal clients in the GTA but its not something many are aware of/how to do it is seen as a huge barrier/difficult.
12:35:55 From Venczel Gloria:For small business to thrive, cities new sources of taxation, cities need a “new green deal”! Cities have revenue from only property taxes to run a wildly expanded set of services, as downloaded from senior gov’ts because cities are the junior partner, outside of roads, sewers and parks to include affordable housing, social service funding for youth programs etc..
12:35:56 From Robert Plitt:To Mary’s point this is a multi-solving challenge. Density tied to ramping up immigration.
12:36:18 From Trevor Davison:Robert Plitt that last point was for you. You might want to read up on Calgary’s Main Streets Projects.
12:36:37 From Abby S:@alison I also want more info on worker owned co-ops similar to Arizmendi in Oakland…and Hot Bread Kitchen in NYC
12:36:43 From Jake Stacey:We are very familiar with working with Land Trusts – feel free to contact me about how we do that
12:37:02 From alison:We have an agreement with our City to control our public square. Can use as we see fit to create vibrancy
12:37:11 From Trevor Davison:https://www.calgary.ca/PDA/pd/Pages/Main-Streets/Main-Streets.aspx?redirect=/mainstreets
12:37:15 From Samira Farahani to All panelists:perfect Charles, feel better and provide more stuffs
12:37:20 From Gillian Mason:City of Toronto is looking at leveraging its investment in the extension of the LRT in Scarborough to bring the main streets to life!
12:37:36 From Heather Bennett:All the neighbourhood grocery stores that existed in TO and people could walk to where the biz owners lived upstairs. have all been turned into single family homes; Suburbia could adopt this ‘’old model”!
12:37:54 From Gillian Mason:Centre for Connected Communities worked with local community and local plazas to express their preferences for their community.
12:38:07 From Jake Stacey:https://vancitycommunityinvestmentbank.ca/parkdale-neighbourhood-land-trust-affordability-through-community-ownership/
12:38:10 From Venczel Gloria:@Heather- 100%
12:38:25 From Gillian Mason:Yes: connecting with each other, and having places to do that, is critical and missing in many of our Scarborough retail hearts.
12:39:05 From Kay Matthews:The beauty about Main streets is their resilient. This is why they have been around for the whole time that Canada has exists.
12:39:20 From Leasa Gibbons:Woot! Woot! Thanks Judith! Mainstreet is the comfort zone as people look to support local.
12:39:29 From Sara Udow:Thank you Jake!
12:39:48 From Ralph Cipolla:is beautification the key to survival of main streets
12:40:24 From Antoni Wisniowski:Is it time for local governments to rethink the tax ratio between commercial and residential properties. While it will result in a shift to residential property owners, it can be considered a form of investment in local businesses. This crisis may provide a unique opportunity for a discussion on a reset.
12:40:24 From Lester Brown:What will be the impact on commercial areas if more people work at home. I find that commercial activity more than just residential attracts new businesses or sustains those there.
12:40:29 From Gillian Mason:Community affinity with one or two businesses: critical to understand.
12:41:17 From Bernard Hellen to All panelists:I am late to the party but isn’t Amazon and other online retailers the issue here? After a couple of months online how do we convince people to go back to offline shopping?
12:41:37 From Leasa Gibbons:Well said Judith – so many hours spent finding solutions for small business. They are so busy hustling to stay alive, they need support building long term (which might be a week out these days).
12:41:42 From Canadian Urban Institute:Welcome new joiners! Just a reminder to please change your chat settings to “all panelists and attendees” so everyone can see your comments.
12:41:50 From Lester Brown:Excellent point Antoni. People in North Bay can’t believe how little we Torontonians pay in residential property tax.
12:42:00 From Ronny Yaron:No one reacted to my question about whether some govt legislation could affect exorbitant rents that retail have to pay……the largest expense…..aaawhy is this not a topic of discussion ?
12:42:14 From Gillian Mason:Thank you Jake. Incidentally, Scarborough Business Ass’n offering session on cash flow for small and medium businesses tomorrow morning.
12:42:32 From Heather Bennett:We’ve wanted to have places to just sit and watch the world go by, but those are deemed to ‘attract the homeless’ so have not been installed. It seems to me that beautification and welcome are critical!
12:42:48 From Venczel Gloria:Main Street needs a local anchor plus a myriad of local small businesses who have their finger on the pulse of neighbourhood needs.
12:43:25 From Sakshi Nanda:Hi Charles! What are your views on high density cities all around the world? and the impact on public transport? I recently read Happy City, great book! I am a recently graduate architect from Mumbai.
12:43:48 From Caitlin Ottenbreit:How do “free” spaces like parks and libraries factor into main streets? Public libraries are major draws for a major cross section of the population, and draw all kind of folks into one centre – does this impact where/how main streets thrive?
12:43:55 From Ralph Cipolla:is tenant mix the saviour of main streets
12:44:17 From Elizabeth Jassem to All panelists:Hello to Everyone, you’re are the best Jake! SHARING SPACE is such super idea… and even known for decades, still re- discouvering ..
12:44:42 From alison:Am loving this discussion. You are speaking my mantra!
12:45:02 From Janell Ranae Rempel:@CaitlineO: I’m also thinking about the great potential of partnerships with public libraries…
12:45:13 From Abby S:It is almost a gift card model expanded…purchase ahead of time..
12:45:33 From Elizabeth Jassem to All panelists:Thank you Mary for your hard work..
12:45:52 From LoriAnn Girvan:Re commercial taxes – City of Toronto is expanding its Creative Co-location Facilities property tax subclass championed by arts hubs in Toronto in 2018 to music venues for covid recovery – opening in the window further on tax tools https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/ma/bgrd/backgroundfile-147293.pdf
12:46:13 From Jaffer M:here on the other side of the pond in London, we have multiple “main streets”, not just places in the absolute centre of the city, but areas have their own “main street”, so we don’t have to take a car/train to the centre for everyday basics. Polycentricity…also helps with COVID, things being nearby
12:46:26 From Patty Cuttell:@LoriAnn – that is amazing.
12:46:46 From Canadian Urban Institute:You can find transcripts and recordings of today’s and all our webinars at
https://www.canurb.org/citytalk
12:46:54 From Michael Shuman to Patty Cuttell and all panelists:Nice to see you here!
12:47:19 From Geraldine Cahill:Great news @LoriAnn
12:47:20 From Patty Cuttell:Hi Michael!
12:47:38 From alison:Interesting discussion but I think e-commerce is a huge threat as well.
12:47:41 From Christy Chrus to All panelists:Businesses may need to rethink how they use their bricks and mortar space – can they consider flex space to co-locate multiple businesses within one storefront? Or use part of store as warehousing space and retail space?
12:48:00 From Antoni Wisniowski to All panelists:I think that municipal deficits are a slippery slope. Municipalities have the ability for capital financing through bonds, which are limited by the municipalities ability to service their debt within the constraint of their existing budgets. I think we should exhaust the concept of backstop support from the provincial and federal levels who already have the ability to run deficits.
12:48:34 From KIERON HUNT:I think it is important to define main streets dependent upon whether they are in a downtown urban environment or whether they are in smaller secondary or rural communities. In Canada we have so many small communities that have “main streets” that need to be looked at with an eye to how they can be reinvigorated in a way that is compatible with the community’s needs. In a small community, developers are usually local players and not the big players with the financial savvy and capable of doing mixed-use developments. For small main streets in smaller rural communities infill can’t always be mandated for mixed-use, but it can be a good single level use if the design guidelines are set out well within the context of safer and healthier streets and sidewalks. If COVID has taught us anything it is how much local businesses give back to their communities and I feel that coming out of COVID, main streets should be the beneficiary of consumers giving back to those local businesses.
12:48:36 From Gil Penalosa:An easy, simple action is to eliminate car parking and double the size of sidewalk to keep physical distance. Seems obvious. But mayors like Toronto’s choose car parking over people walking, with tiny exceptions. BIA and non-organized business need to be more open minded, trial and error, pressure politicians. Have cars parking on side streets or back of stores. Make shopping fun, exciting, joyful.
12:49:17 From Canadian Urban Institute:Keep the conversation going #citytalk #bringbackmainstreet @canurb
12:49:22 From Geraldine Cahill:Waterloo University is running a Legacy Leadership Lab looking at exactly this https://uwaterloo.ca/legacy-leadership-lab/
12:49:32 From Venczel Gloria:Without a “New Green Deal for Cities”, only chain stores could afford the rents. A Main St full of chain stores , who are the only ones that can afford the high taxation rates, generally have their genesis in malls, have large marketing budgets, do not understand a “sense of place” and public spaces that build social resilience and enhance civil society in times of change, like covid + the climate crisis. Can someone speak to that?
12:49:48 From Mike Mattos:Main Street needs e-commerce, shopping is the buggy whip of the 21st century. Main Street is about services now
12:49:50 From Eunan Quinn:The speed with which many local businesses adapted to an online presence was dramatic. As Mary cites it does not suit all small or micro entrprises i.e those that need people through the door to get a particular service.
12:50:16 From Geraldine Cahill:“the Legacy Leadership Lab will develop market interventions and prototypes that allow conventional and social finance players, business service providers, and community leaders to facilitate social purpose conversions of existing businesses in their own towns.” https://uwaterloo.ca/legacy-leadership-lab/
12:50:48 From Canadian Urban Institute:For more information go to: https://bringbackmainstreet.ca/
12:50:59 From Heather Bennett:The suggestion has been that people 50+ will move to smaller centres how might they be encouraged/supported to revitalize such communities?
12:51:00 From Michael Shuman:Here’s the handbook I mentioned:https://comcapcoalition.org/cifhandbook/
12:51:08 From Mike Mattos:Parking within 50m is key, not necessarily on street. But definitely NOT on adjoining residential streets!
12:51:42 From alison:100% Charles-tax is key
12:52:08 From paul mackinnon:Research (Gehl, etc.) shows that ground floor drives value for upper floors. We need a restructuring of rent and taxes to alleviate the cost burden on ground floor.
12:52:25 From Kay Matthews:As well as leveling the levels of Red Tape – Provincial, Federal, Municipal and Regional…
12:52:30 From Mike Mattos:tax and parking are opposite sides of the same coin – municipal budgets!
12:52:46 From Venczel Gloria:@Charles M.- it’s very difficult for a muni to decide who is a small business and who isn’t. Many have turned it down in BC. Need a “New Green Deal for Cities”.
12:53:14 From Kay Matthews:There should be a “Main Street Class” of business – officially…
12:53:24 From Gil Penalosa:Promote riding a bicycle to main streets.
‘Lockdown is opportunity of a lifetime for bike lanes’ https://bbc.in/2AyUQHj
12:53:47 From Robert Plitt:Alison how can I reach you?
12:53:59 From alison:intave@shaw.ca
12:54:00 From Emily Wall, CUI Staff:Help us improve our CityTalk programming and tell us what you want to see – https://bit.ly/2Xa2AXY
12:54:13 From LoriAnn Girvan:we are focusing on main streets futures vis a vis consumers but COVID has exposed the vulnerability of essential workers who are the backbone of these enterprises – new models – like workers coops – must also incorporate decent wages and health access
12:54:51 From Ronny Yaron:What about the exorbitant rents on main streets ? Only francises can survive !!
12:54:54 From alison:Nice! Michael Shuman very true
12:54:55 From Heather Bennett:Main Street has to be really appealing to aging boomers who won’t be able to/shouldn’t drive in coming years!
12:55:18 From Venczel Gloria:Our Canadian taxation system was set up in 1867, with a few small updates since, -when we were an agrarian and fur trading nation. We are now an urban nation, with cities the main economic drivers of the country. Need a “New Green Deal for Cities”.
12:55:29 From Canadian Urban Institute:CUI is looking for volunteers to help us continue the great work of our COVID-19 initiatives. If you can help, please contact us at covidresponse@canurb.org
12:56:40 From Ariana Holt:Check out our memo on Types of Main Streets Across Canada. Let us what you think. Does this cover the types of main streets in your community? https://bringbackmainstreet.ca/memos-from-main-street/memo-4-main-streets-across-canada
12:56:48 From Antoni Wisniowski:Current tax ratios are a aberration and an anachronism. It will require very bold leadership to rebalance the ledgers. This is the time and opportunity for such leadership.
12:56:49 From Frank Murphy:So many good ideas. Re-localizing investment and finance for one. Terrific discussion, thanks everyone.
12:57:06 From Samira Farahani:exactly Judith! wait too long and studying too much
12:57:15 From Lester Brown:In 1974, several of us sat down and realized that nobody, including Van City, were willing to risk financing community/cooperative businesses. We formed CCEC and it still operates today.
12:57:33 From TJ Maguire:The Broedplaats program in Amsterdam is an inspiring example of revitalizing spaces with arts and culture. “Every year, a special bureau of the city council, Bureau Broedplaatsen, creates over 10.000 m2 of new space for artists each year. A Broedplaats is always temporary and lasts for 3 to 10 years.”: https://whatsupwithamsterdam.com/broedplaats-amsterdam/
12:57:37 From Abby S:@Robert would love to discuss co-ops further as well.
12:57:55 From Gil Penalosa:3 actions? Density, density, density on main streets and all arterials. Allow houses behind the main, with some divisions, but change and promote 4-10 stories where you have 1-3.
12:57:59 From alison:Jump on opportunities as they become available. Most be nimble organizations
12:58:25 From Nader Shureih:Very much agree with the sentiment regarding nimbleness. Agility in decision-making can come with the right insights. There’s lots of data out there. Taking advantage of it can provide agile decision-making capacity for municipalities and BIAs of all sizes
12:58:39 From Eunan Quinn:Great to see what is energising the chat across the Atlantic….and to know that there are similarities all over the place.
12:59:39 From Abby S::) @mary
12:59:40 From Tim Lee:For the future, flexible zoning is key in Main Streets. Zoning is the last thing businesses want as a problem. Permitted uses should be flexible as possible.
13:00:21 From Tracy Tang:The pandemic has been a business disruptor like never seen in recent memory other than the 2008 recession. Maybe we should be rethinking businesses and commerce through entrepreneurship, innovation and multi-downtowns. Expand e-commerce, delivery systems, more services within homes (home-based businesses), multi-space ownership, bring back people in homes closer to the downtowns, better use of land (low rise buildings with residences and businesses below, unique funding with partners.
13:00:25 From Amy Calder:density along main streets is great, but let’s make sure it’s livable density. increasing standards for managing noise of main streets for residents, like better soundproofing in residential buildings. We can cut down some of the conflicts that often come up between main street business, street life and residents
13:00:29 From Patty Cuttell:Taxation is part of it, but so is the entire market. What is really driving costs on Mainstreet rental? Interest rates are super low, there is more Mainstreet commercial spaces then ever before thanks to urban building codes requiring ground level commercial, etc. — yet rental rates higher than ever. I think the whole system top to bottom needs to be reconsidered. Banks, landlords, and municipality together. Need to make Mainstreet small businesses more of an economic priority.
13:00:31 From LoriAnn Girvan:@Mary – You got peanut butter in my chocolate!
13:00:35 From Abby S:What this pandemic has shown is that if there is a will, things can happen at light speed
13:00:36 From alison:Thanks CUI for an awesome session! Well done.
13:00:41 From Venczel Gloria:While financial tools are important, there has to be a vision for reinventing Main with covid + climate change. Then throw money at it.
13:00:49 From Ryan Walker:Excellent panelists; a real highlight to hear from Judith in Regina
13:00:59 From Abby S:@patty…yes…it is the entire system
13:01:00 From Lester Brown:Glad Day bookstore was developed by many of the LGBTQ community each putting up $1,000.
13:01:03 From Alyssa Valente:thank you to all the Panelists!! such a great discussion!!
13:01:05 From Janette MacDonald:Great session folks.
13:01:07 From Sara Hines to All panelists:This was great! Thank you.
13:01:11 From Camila Uriona to All panelists:Great conversation! Thank you all!
13:01:13 From Eva Salinas to All panelists:Great discussion – thank you!
13:01:16 From Laurel Davies Snyder to All panelists:Excellent session. Need a Part II.
13:01:17 From Lester Brown:Thank you panelists.
13:01:21 From Catherine Creager:Great panel, thanks everyone!
13:01:22 From Abby S:Thank you panelists!
13:01:22 From alison:Bye All!!!
13:01:24 From Todd Mitchell:Thank you panelists.
13:01:25 From Dawn Pond:excellent panel! Thank you!
13:01:25 From Eva Salinas to All panelists:I hope Hamilton is listening!
13:01:26 From Eva Chu:Really enjoyed this talk!!! Thanks so much 🙂
13:01:27 From LoriAnn Girvan:thank you – great panel!
13:01:27 From Eunan Quinn:Thanks to everyone.
13:01:28 From Emily Wall, CUI Staff:Help us improve our CityTalk programming and tell us what you want to see – https://bit.ly/2Xa2AXY
13:01:28 From Patty Cuttell:thanks!
13:01:29 From Elizabeth MacLeod:Thanks all!
13:01:30 From Tracy Tang:Thank you. An excellent webinar. marsha in Burlington.
13:01:30 From James McCallan:Thanks!
13:01:32 From Amelia Hall:Thanks!
13:01:33 From Amy Calder:thanks to the host and panelists!
13:01:39 From Ramyata Ambilwade to All panelists:Thanks
13:01:50 From Ralph Cipolla:thank from orillia
13:01:51 From Carley Bringeland:Thanks everyone!
13:01:55 From Lisa Mactaggart:the Guelph Box is an innovative service to help small business survive.
13:02:04 From Lisa Mactaggart:thank you
13:02:15 From Chinelo Enemuo:Thanks everyone. Really enjoyed this!
13:02:17 From Maureen Luoma:Thanks to everyone – – only one complaint – it was too short LOL
13:02:20 From Elizabeth Jassem to All panelists:SUPER DISCUSSION MARY – EVERYONE!! THANK YOU
13:08:38 From Canadian Urban Institute:Thanks for participating in the chat! Please leave your final comments, links and references now as we will close the chat in a few minutes.
13:11:07 From Mary Shaughnessy to All panelists:Is the chat available to download in any way?
13:13:00 From Canadian Urban Institute:Yes! it will be available at https://www.canurb.org/citytalk within 48 hours.
