It was deja vu all over again as an identical city council vote quashed a revamped effort to give Downtown London money for a consultant.
The downtown business association had asked the city for $540,000 of taxpayer money to go toward the cost of huring a consulting firm that would help bring new business into the area.
Councillor Jesse Helmer put forward an amendment that would have given the association $100,000 from the Economic Development Reserve Fund but was contingent on Downtown London matching the funds.
The motion was defeated 8-7. Councillors Bill Armstrong, Mo Salih, Maureen Cassidy, Phil Squire, Anna Hopkins, Virginia Ridley, Stephen Turner, and Jared Zaifman all voted against it.
The original plan, which went to the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee on Monday, was amended to offer Downtown London $200,000. It also lost in an 8-7 vote.
"I opposed this from the beginning," says Squire. "It's just one of those philosophical things, I really believe that cities now have to be really careful in terms of where we are spending our money. It's a property tax based system. We don't have the money that the province or the federal governments have. This is an area in terms of promoting private properties that I just don't think it's our place to do."
Downtown London would have hired the consulting firm Live Work Learn Play for $1.98-million to run a four-year targeted campaign. The business association had agreed to pay $1.4-million of the hefty price tag.
Many councillors voiced concerns about spending more money to revamp the downtown. The city has already invested nearly $40-million in the core through the new Fanshawe College campus, the Dundas flex street, and Back To The River.
Squire suggested Downtown London could save some money by engaging the London Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) instead of hiring a consultant.
"The LEDC have expertise in leasing, attracting new business, they're also involved in the economic road map," says Squire. "They're going to have a lot of expertise through the economic road map through other stakeholders, other business, other talents that I really think Downtown London can utilize and not need this huge expense."
