CCDA has great value

By Letter to the Editor on January 19, 2019.

The City Centre Development Agency (CCDA) should continue to receive a $100,000 grant from the city. In fact, a good case can be made for increasing the amount. In support of this position I will attempt to address some of the criticisms directed at the CCDA.

1. Not all members of the downtown community are satisfied with the CCDA’s efforts on their behalf — What agency can ever claim that it enjoys the uncritical support of all of its members? The CCDA board is a group of dedicated volunteers who work very hard to promote the vitality of the city’s core. If enough members are dissatisfied they have ways and means to seek to disband or simply change direction and focus. In the meantime it is important for the city, council and administration to support those who are working positively, constructively and cooperatively to advance the interests of the city centre. To reduce such a meagre grant by 25 per cent would be a slap in the face to all who have worked so hard to make the downtown a better place.

2. There is too much city involvement — This is simply not true. City council appoints the CCDA board but all the candidates must be nominated by a CCDA member. A list of nominees is presented to council and they make their appointments from that CCDA-generated list. A city councillor sits on the CCDA board and a representative from the city’s Business Support Unit often attends meetings. This is done to facilitate the exchange of information and concerns. It helps to keep everyone working together in an open environment. City Hall and the CCDA should not operate in silos which do not talk to each other.

3. This is not fair to other businesses — The downtown is different from shopping centres, strip malls and business parks. It is the core of our community, the heart of who we are. Its vitality and attractiveness are a draw which impacts all other quadrants of where we live, work and play. The city itself is a major property holder in the downtown and if the heart of our community is weakened and declines, the whole body is negatively impacted.

Come on council! Support the CCDA. They are not the enemy. They are doing your/our work to help keep Medicine Hat “a Community of Choice.”