THUNDER BAY — The Fort William Business Improvement Area (BIA) in Thunder Bay saw a turbulent year in 2024, from the delay of a major revitalization plan, that includes the demolition of Victoriaville Mall, to finding a solution for the homeless.
Aldo Ruberto, chairman of the Fort William BIA, said one of the things they wanted to do was beautify and clean up the area and provide more security to show the core businesses that, "Hey, we're trying."
"We spent a lot of money on security, beautification and strategies to enhance the area so that we can attract more people," Ruberto said.
"The most important thing a (district) can do to improve its economy is to create an attractive, walkable downtown and to create a centre where people feel comfortable going to. We're going to focus on that this year, and then we'll start our expansion of more members because we want to expand our boundary."
The boundary expansion involves the area along Victoria Avenue east past May Street and west of Victoriaville, to help expand members from the additional businesses.
"Businesses leaving Victoriaville hampers us, but once we make the place attractive and show the people that they'll get value for their dollar, then people will want to join," he said.
The Business Improvement Area group has ordered vinyl banners depicting the area's history and planned to host a concert type of event.
They encountered issues that Ruberto said distracted them from their plan, including a $40,000 cost for the cleanup, removal of drug paraphernalia and beautification.
"We ordered flowers and new garbage cans. We're trying to get more lighting, and we tried to start a camera-security program," Ruberto said.
"We had Junk Away clean up the whole area three times a week, on top of what the city was doing, but it was a challenge."
He added that the delay of the tearing down of Victoriaville mall with the area revitalization, and the absence of businesses are "not helping us."
"We need people in the downtown area to help with the economy, to generate business, to provide activity, safety and security. It needs to thrive. That's what downtowns are all about — they have a vibe," he said.
"We have people living here, but we need people working here now and people are slowly returning to their offices."
Inflation has also impacted the Business Improvement Area group with increasing wages, material and product costs. He noted how online shopping has caused many local businesses to "take a hit."
"The businesses have to reinvent themselves. They have to readjust. They have to figure out how to survive," he said. "They have to change or they die."
Ruberto said the city's core areas are the "magnets of the city" where people come for entertainment, food and business.
"That is our main thrust, our main engine of the economy and that's where things should be going," he said. Unfortunately, I feel sometimes that the city doesn't understand that with some of the decisions they made recently, around parking, encampments and with allowing the tent strategy — on top of keeping people at home — has worked against us."
He said the city's overall revitalization plan is working well in the north core but the city needs to look at "the whole package," including parking, traffic flow and the location of bus stops.
For now, Ruberto said they are waiting for the revitalization to take place, which he called the "rebirth of the area."
He pointed out that there are many buildings for sale in the south core.
"There appears to be a lot of out-of-town investors saying, "Wow, that's crazy. I can't do that in Toronto. I can't do that in Vancouver or Calgary," so they're starting to pick up these buildings, and they're starting to renovate."
Ruberto remains optimistic and hopes the Victoriaville revitalization will have a tremendous impact on the area. He said there is great potential for the Fort William business area if businesses open in vacant buildings and people come back to work in civic and government offices.
The Chronicle Journal / Local Journalism Initiative
