The Yorkton Business Improvement District (YBID) wants people to get downtown and go through the district, and while this past year was a challenging one for most businesses in the city, they were working hard to keep the city as an appealing place to be.
The new year starts with the passing of the gavel, with the new chair of the board 小蓝视频 Doug Hull, taking over from Phoebe Buckle. Hull said he's looking forward to the next year, to hear new ideas, and to get started on new projects.
This year's YBID board will be Councillor Ken Chyz, Phoebe Buckle, Sean Craib-Petkau, Doug Hull, Sandy Kerr, Dave Nussbaumer, Gale Pelletier, Andrew Rae, Lauretta Ritchie-McInnes, Damon Syrota and Bruce Thurston.
Donna Brothwell, executive director of YBID, said that like most businesses, they also had to adapt and take different approaches to be successful over the past year. One of the big examples of that philosophy was the Santa Claus Day reverse parade, which had stationary floats which cars moved through. It was a big success, she said, and kept the Christmas tradition moving in the city.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about finding ways to do things through COVID.鈥�
The Clean Sweep program has also been expanded into the winter, with snow shoveling on sidewalks to keep the downtown walkable and accessible. While Brothwell said that most businesses are good at shoveling out in front of their door, she noted that empty storefronts need to be cleaned off too, in order to make the entire sidewalk available.
鈥淓verybody must realize when you have a packed street with snow and ice that you can鈥檛 get down, it鈥檚 hard to get out and go shopping downtown.鈥�
Flower pots were also a continuing program for YBID, with Young鈥檚 Plant World and the Prairie Harvest Employment Program handling the work to get the pots planted through the district. She said that it鈥檚 a great deal of work throughout the year to keep the flower pots attractive and a feature of the city, making it more appealing to shop here.
鈥淲e鈥檙e known as the flower pot people, and that鈥檚 okay, but we do so much more.鈥�
YBID was also busy funding different projects through the city. The Yorkton Brick Mill received $5,000. The Highway 9 and Broadway beautification project received $50,000 for three years, and is their next major project, starting in spring this year.
The Yorkton Film Festival received $1,000, the Celebrate Success Awards received $1,200, Snowarama received $500, the Senior鈥檚 Mobility car received $1,000. The Save the Grandstand project also got $10,000.
Another major contribution was the Business Improvement Incentive Program - or BIIP - which will receive $50,000 which will towards improvement programs, and Brothwell notes they have already received applications to improve downtown facades.
Brothwell said that the main goal is to keep investing in the city, and said that with all money that they raise through the year they immediately turn around and invest it in improving the community.
鈥淧eople can understand that their levy money is going to extremely good causes that keep our streets lit, and beautiful, and clean and walkable and shoppable.鈥�
Another project was interviewing candidates for council with the civic elections. Brothwell said they wanted to give them a chance to communicate their platform and plans openly with the public, especially with there 小蓝视频 limited ways to get their message out this year. She notes that council makes many decisions that affect business, so as a program that supports business they need to help voters stay informed.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important, going forward, a civic election where we as a community and individuals can make the most difference... Voting is so important at any level of government, but at a civic level, we make as an individual make the most changes at this level and it鈥檚 going to impact us most in our business community and our home life.鈥�
It was a challenging year, and many businesses had to close through the beginning, and find ways to remain safe and follow the rules after, with masks, sanitization and limits on the number of customers. Brothwell said that they support efforts to keep COVID at bay, while hoping that it doesn鈥檛 come down to closing businesses again.
While there have been many challenges, Brothwell said there are also opportunities for businesses to move downtown and set up shop in a downtown building. While there has been a crisis, it means there are more opportunities to get out of it.
鈥淚f businesses are struggling with rent, I encourage them to look at the buildings downtown, either purchasing a building to help them out, because interest rates are the lowest they have been in a long time, or looking at the rents downtown.鈥�
There will be challenges in 2021, Brothwell admits, especially as there are more COVID-19 infections than ever at this point, but she鈥檚 hopeful that once vaccines in place it will be easier to do business. She said they will be continuing many of the programs, and are excited to get started on the beautification project at Highway 9 and Broadway.
鈥淗opefully if COVID changes a little bit and restrictions are eased, we can see more Party in the Park type of things to get people downtown.鈥�
She said that the money that goes from the YBID levy goes to projects that improve the city, and that they are stronger together, even through a crisis, and the larger projects are going to be more help than the small amount of money that a business puts into it.
鈥淚t is a fact that if you have good lighting, you have beauty, you have clean streets, you have banners up, you have things in the park, you have places to sit that draw those people into your community, that draw those people to those businesses. It鈥檚 a fact, you will get more businesses.鈥�
