Downtown needs vision for future

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This article was published 16/11/2023 (854 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“We have invested all of our money into trying to revitalize Brandon’s downtown. I firmly support having a shelter, but I just don’t feel that locating it right in the heart of the few blocks that you want to see revitalized is the best location.”

— Sneath Group CEO Robyn Sneath

“The Blue Door brings a host of issues such as verbal threats to pedestrians, public urination and defecation, drug use and increased littering of garbage. This application will hurt businesses and properties within this area.”

— Brandon Downtown Biz representative Mike Maendel

“Are we looking at revitalization or are we a social hub? It’s hard to be both … when we’re talking about economic development, we’re very (focused) on revitalization, new façades, incentives to get people down here. And then on the flip side, when we’re talking about social service files, we need those facilities to be reachable by people who are often on foot.”

— Coun. Tyson Tame (Ward 10)

When it comes to Brandon’s downtown, Coun. Tyson Tame (Ward 10) asks a fair question, one that successive councils and mayors have been apparently unable to answer for decades. All we have to do is look at the state we find ourselves in right now.

Far too many storefronts remain empty along Rosser Avenue and other parts of the downtown, and at least a few of those that are still occupied are looking haggard. Larger banking institutions are fleeing in droves for other parts of the city, trying to keep their clients’ business by moving to a more desirable location.

Even as the business community falters downtown, social service operations continue to grow in number and mandate to meet a growing need for addictions treatment, mental health supports, food hampers and housing.

And as we build more social supports downtown, it’s clear that the most famous line from the movie “Field of Dreams” isn’t far off the mark: “If you build it, they will come.” Brandon has often advertised itself as the “hub” of the Westman service centre in terms of business.

But over the last several decades, downtown Brandon, particularly along Rosser and Pacific avenues, has also become the heart of social services in the region. This has happened in part by design, as it has been the overriding belief of many city councils, provincial governments and non-profit organizations that you need to build the supports to where the people who need them are to be found.

While that may be a logical approach, it has the unlooked-for consequence of changing the nature of what was once a thriving part of our city.

Part of the problem is that successive mayors and councils have lacked a coherent vision for what they have wanted downtown Brandon to become, which has allowed downtown to flounder quite organically. This has been accompanied by social service and non-profit organizations that have tended in the past to work in silos, while failing to have clearly defined goals and outcomes to measure success.

As it has become clear in Winnipeg — with the planned transformation of the floundering Portage Place mall into a campus that connects a health-care centre, affordable and family housing and neighbourhood services — business corridors and social service destinations don’t seem to mix very well.

Yet the hesitation to take a stand from our councillors and mayors over the years isn’t difficult to understand. Which side should you choose as a councillor? Do you support the men and women on the street who don’t have shelter or enough food, and who are clearly in danger during Brandon’s long cold winters with no other place to go?

People who are obviously at the mercy of the elements and who do not have a permanent residence of their own are in need of emergency shelter in our downtown. Some have addiction and mental-health issues to deal with, on top of everything else they are dealing with. Providing no aid would be inhumane.

Or do you back up the long-standing business owner who by no fault of his own is in danger of shutting down because downtown has become untenable?

There are no easy answers here. There never have been. But there certainly are some strong opinions on the subject.

Several of our downtown business owners came together earlier this month to push back against the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation’s planned 24-7 temporary shelter for 817 Rosser Ave., prompting the city’s planning commission to turn down the organization’s variance application.

This kind of pushback from the business community was a long time in coming, to be honest. The danger in speaking out is in being demonized as selfish and not caring about the less fortunate. But that shouldn’t be the takeaway from this process.

Without a clear vision of what we’re trying to accomplish downtown, we will fail to halt the continued degradation at the heart of our city. And that direction needs to come from our elected officials who have been tasked with leadership — and not from some strategic plan cooked up by a consultant and some city staff.

To his credit, Mayor Jeff Fawcett has tried to step in to help the BNRC find a new location for the temporary shelter, which had received provincial operating funds until March. Thus far, two churches have agreed to handle overnight clients while the Blue Door continues to provide daytime services.

But the mayor is up against some rather large expectations with all the difficult files piling up on his plate, and the stress must be wearing on him. The story of the Dutch boy plugging a hole in a leaking dike with his fingers comes to mind — only there seems to be no end to the leaks, and he’s rapidly running out of fingers.

The need for a vision for downtown has never been more clear. I suggest that our business community and leaders within the social services start demanding one.

» Matt Goerzen, editor