At a meeting to discuss The Downtown Village Development Corporation, several outspoken business owners took the opportunity to vent frustrations with the BIA's newly elected board, chaired by Bob Wygant.
Susan Thompson, who is the unpaid executive director of the
non-profit group working to encourage people to live and invest
in downtown, (from here on referred to as The Village People),
is the life partner of Wygant. He is known for his
shoot-from-the-hip remarks.
(The BIA used to be called Sudbury Metro Centre, but changed
its name to Downtown Sudbury, which is confusing to me, if not
anyone else.)
A Wednesday morning "Meet your Neighbour" gathering turned into
a bitch session at the Best Western Hotel (known to old-timers
like me as the Peter Piper.) Wygant was conspicuously
absent.
Everyone in the room could claim they are boosters of downtown,
but like parents fighting over custody of a child, egos and
emotion got in the way of clear thinking. And the child
suffers.
At issue: the Downtown Sudbury board of directors, (two of its
members, Marsha Fabbro and John Arnold, are Village People),
agreed to give the Village People $35,000 from its reserve fund
of $300,000 for unspecific operating expenses.
When Downtown Sudbury held its annual meeting a few weeks ago,
the old guard (former members of the BIA who were upset by
Wygant's criticism of them in the press) raised a fuss over the
$35,000.
And after all, the optics of the BIA giving taxpayers' money to
the Village People, given the Wygant/Fabbro/Arnold/Thompson,
connection did not look good. The $35,000 issue was deferred to
Wednesday's meeting, which as I said was not very
neighbourly.
Overall, most of the people who attended the meeting supported
the Village People's efforts to want to make the city's core
beautiful and inviting for people to live and shop there. And
I'm not talking a few geraniums.
The previous BIA board allotted $100,000 for a Village People
project, which if it goes ahead, will also receive help from
city and senior levels of government.
They also supported the idea of giving the Village People
office space in the BIA's offices.  They were just bugged
by the $35,000 in operating money, and the fact that the
Village People could not actually say what the money would be
used for.
For the record, I am told the Village People didn't ask for the
money, it was allocated in principle by the BIA board pending
membership approval.
The discussion went round and round for an hour and half.
Nothing was resolved but a lot of steam was let off.
The Village People having been working for four years to bring
the beautification project to fruition. They don't need the
$35,000, but they need the support of the downtown business
community to make the project a success.
The Village People have done good work and they deserve this
support, as well as that of all citizens of Greater Sudbury.
It's time to leave egos at the door, and work for the
collective good of the community.
Perhaps, Wygant should step down as chair of Downtown Sudbury
(but not the board) to avoid the appearance of any conflict of
interest with the Village People. His well-spoken and
well-meaning partner deserves a chance to realize her efforts
for the community's betterment.
As an aside, one downtown business owner spoke volumes when she
said the "P" word. She thought $35,000 could be better spent to
buy a parking lot so customers could park for free. She
deserved a standing ovation. Many people from Walden to
Capreol  have got out of the habit of shopping downtown
because they have to pay for parking. It is as simple as
that.
Vicki Gilhula is the managing editor of Northern Life.
