Concerns expressed about proposed summer street parties downtown

One month after expressing cautious interest in proposed closings of Queen Street on summer weekends, the Downtown Association is raising fresh concerns about the idea.

A resolution from Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Shoemaker, approved by City Council in 2017, suggested closing Queen Street to traffic from East Street to Gore on Friday and/or Saturday nights, from Victoria Day to Labour Day to encourage active use of downtown.

At its annual general meeting on March 19, members were evenly split on the idea, but after further discussion what appeared to be a consensus developed that Shoemaker's idea should be explored by the city, with caution exercised about moving too quickly before the pandemic is resolved.

At its monthly meeting last week, however, new reservations were expressed about who will be responsible for barricading side streets and organizing and paying for entertainment needed to attract people to the core.  

"Who is going to be responsible for these shutdowns?" asked board member Frank Gaccione.

"Is it going to be totally the Downtown Association or is it going to be the city with the help of the Downtown Association?" Gaccione asked.

Gaccione recommended that the idea be tested on a one-day-a-month basis once the lockdown is lifted.

"The barricades alone on the entire five-block boundary is a huge task," said board chair Kristi Cistaro.

"It's certainly not something we're staffed to do at this point," Cistaro said. "We would need considerable resources there."

"I've been one of the volunteers that has done the barricades. It is a lot of work," said Ward 2 Coun. Lisa Vezeau-Allen, a member of the Downtown Association board.

The association will communicate the new concerns to Rachel Tyczinski, the city clerk, together with a request for budget information about how much the city is willing to contribute to the downtown street parties.