Guest speakers offer tips to help Bolton BIA
By ALAN LICZYK

Two guest speakers from different business improvement areas offered their advice to the Bolton BIA last Wednesday night on how to make their village a thriving area.

Richard Messer, chair of the Kerr Village BIA in Oakville, said he came to his community seven years ago where people would meet and nothing would get done.

"I said, 'Let's go and do something.'"

He wanted to do planters on Kerr Street and went door to door seeking donations. Some gave and some didn't. Eventually he was able to buy $6,000 worth of flowers. He said the flowers looked great for a week but they died because nobody watered them.

Messer encouraged the Bolton BIA merchants to share resources.

"This is a group of champions," he said. "You put in the initiative to get here. We're here to make a difference today."

A couple of ideas he put forward were streetscaping and expanding the BIA. He added the BIA should use the newspapers for publicity because they are their allies.

The Town of Caledon is going to be doing its firstever community improvement plan for Bolton. Caledon planning director Mary Hall noted she lives in Orangeville and they have a community improvement plan which can be done under the Planning Act. Any incentives financially must be approved by the minister of municipal affairs, she said.

"That community improvement plan is important to look at," Messer said. "Mary wants to develop a relationship with Bolton that's going to be successful."

He suggested the Bolton BIA members pick a goal and give it to the chair. He urged the members to go and meet their merchants, and build a rapport. He also recommended they promote Bolton as a destination.

"It's going to be a slow go," he said. "It's not going to happen overnight. The process does take time."

He revealed it took his Oakville community seven years to turn Kerr Street around and it didn't have a BIA for the first five years.

"Never give up," he said. "Never surrender. Seek out people. Go and handshake with them."

Caledon resident John Kiru, who's the executive director of the Toronto Association of BIAs, said this couldn't be a better time for municipalities to do something the way the legislation is written.

"This is a great opportunity," he said.

He noted there are 60 BIAs in Toronto, 240 in Ontario and 700 across Canada. The first BIA in Toronto was started at Bloor and Jane streets more than 35 years ago.

Kiru said there will be a conference for BIAs in Toronto, April 1-3. There will be people from Germany, British Columbia and Canada's east coast attending.

He explained in Toronto, the city will give businesses up to $10,000 for facade improvements.

The BIA concept has four stages, Kiru said. The first is instant gratification. The second is showing off what they have. The third is retail mix where the BIA members identify their shortcomings. He noted malls are experts at developing retail mix. He suggested the members do research and ask residents what stores they want and don't want. The fourth stage is assisting local merchants with education. Many BIAs are moving to the education component, he said. He added they're learning from their competition, that being the malls and big box stores.

"You do need to show your strength collectively," Kiru said.

He applauded Caledon council for its planning policies and said expansion is something the BIA needs to look at.

"I feel the way Bolton goes, so does the rest of the Town," he said. "Partner, work together and move forward."

Bolton BIA chair Tony Viola agreed.

"You're right," he said. "We're the BIA. We should make it happen. I agree if we don't work together it's not going to happen."

He added what they're missing is unity.

BIA member Verona Teskey of Prudential Select Real Estate, observed they've had many, many meetings and maybe they are missing unity. She said leadership is key.

She explained as real estate people it's important for them to sell lifestyle. Downtown Bolton is a commercial core surrounded by residences with condominiums also coming downtown, she explained.

"We're asking and looking for leadership," she said.

Kiru said communication is important. The BIA board has to let its members know what is going on. He added they should develop a strategic plan.

Councillor Annette Groves said there many resources they can tap into. She noted the community action site committee has worked with the BIA and there are high school students scrambling to get their required community hours. She also noted the Kinsmen Club of Bolton and Tim Hortons have done community cleanups downtown.

"From what I heard from John, you need a plan," said Mayor Marolyn Morrison.

She suggested they put a task force together. She added Kiru is willing to sit there and offer his help.

"We'll say here are the dates and we're going to hold you to it," she said.

The mayor also complimented Groves for trying hard to keep things moving which brought a round of applause from the BIA members.

Caledon's chief administrative officer Patrick Moyle noted when he was the CAO in Orangeville they asked the Orangeville BIA about Wal- Mart coming into town. The BIA said it was great. This small group all of a sudden had a $200,000 budget. Moyle added the BIA went to the Town of Orangeville for facade improvements and has now had $400,000 worth done in facade improvements. The BIA also has full-time Town staff doing things for them.

Kiru added most of Toronto's BIAs have taken on staff.