City Further Restricts Business Owners' Access to Downtown Safety Meeting
Waitlisting, ticket limits, and unclear intent raise new concerns for downtown business owners who had hoped to have their concerns heard by police and City officials.
River District business owners received an unexpected update Wednesday afternoon: the City of Owen Sound is now limiting attendance at its upcoming meeting on downtown safety and business conditions, citing “significant interest” and venue capacity.
The July 28 event, titled "A Community Stakeholder Discussion to Foster a Vibrant River District," was originally initiated at the request of the Owen Sound Police Services Board (OSPSB).
The board’s April 23 motion explicitly called for a meeting between the City, police, and downtown businesses to discuss “current business conditions,” with particular concern around open drug use and safety in the downtown core.
However, in the weeks since, the City has reframed the meeting as a broader visioning session focused on shared goals, social services, and overall community wellbeing.
When the request came before Council on May 26, they moved to expand the guest list to include Grey County Social Services, Grey Bruce Public Health, and other service and housing providers.
While these additions were positioned as bringing “content experts” to the table, they also significantly broadened the scope of the meeting, from a focused dialogue with businesses to a multi-stakeholder conversation about intersecting social challenges.
The language in official correspondence to invitees reflected this shift, with less emphasis on the downtown business-specific challenges that business owners hoped would be heard.
Now, as of July 16, the City has imposed further restrictions. A River District business owner, concerned about the change, shared the City’s latest communication with The Owen Sound Current with the condition that they not be identified, for fear of repercussions.
Meeting Now Waitlisted and Restricted to One Attendee Per Business
“Due to the significant interest in this event and venue capacity, we are now requesting that invitees send one representative for their business or organization,” wrote Community and Business Development Advisor Rebecca Ellerdiem in a July 16 email to River District stakeholders.
Those who have RSVP’d with multiple names will be contacted to reduce their attendance to a single representative, as noted in the email. Any additional tickets will be released from a waitlist, with “priority given to River District businesses.”
The event is being held at Harmony Centre in ‘The Commons’ space in downtown Owen Sound. The City owns larger-capacity spaces, including meeting rooms at the Bayshore Community Centre and an ice pad at the Julie McArthur Regional Recreation Centre used for floor sports during summer months.
The update raises fresh questions about the City’s commitment to hearing from downtown businesses in an open, inclusive manner. While staff say they are “prepared to consider a change in venue,” it’s unclear why that hadn’t happened before further restricting business owners’ access.
The City’s initial response to the OSPSB request—which also included a media attendance restriction and required journalists to agree to a preemptive blanket confidentiality request—had already sparked concerns about transparency and press access.
Now, with business owners also being waitlisted and limited to one ticket per operation, concerns are growing about whether their voices will be meaningfully heard.
In her message, Ellerdiem confirmed that a “media availability” will be held immediately following the event, and that City staff will work with the facilitator to prepare a summary report for Council.
According to a presentation the City Manager gave to Council on June 30, this report will capture key themes, general feedback, and any proposed next steps, but there is no indication it will include a detailed or verbatim record of what individual business owners have to say.
As previously reported, the City has not committed to documenting or publicly sharing the specific concerns raised by downtown businesses, despite that being the original purpose of the meeting requested by the Police Services Board.
Downtown stakeholders continue to express frustration that their lived experiences are being diluted by a process increasingly defined by access controls, reframed language, and unclear accountability.
City Already Holds Unreleased Feedback from Over 1,000 Survey Respondents
Despite framing the July 28 meeting as a key opportunity to hear from stakeholders, the City of Owen Sound already has access to extensive community input on these very issues—input it has not publicly shared.
In 2024, the City conducted the Future Owen Sound: Vision 2050 community survey, gathering more than 5,000 open-ended responses from over 1,000 participants.
However, when The Owen Sound Current requested access to these survey results, the City Manager’s Office determined it was “best practice” not to publish them. We ultimately obtained the full results through a formal access request and payment of over $500 in fees.
These responses include direct, unfiltered feedback about downtown safety, homelessness, addiction, economic development, and the struggles facing local business owners—precisely the topics business members are being invited to discuss again at the upcoming meeting.
A small selection of verbatim comments relevant to this discussion include:
“Local downtown business has potential to expand but safety (to visitors, residents & workers) in the core has diminished the desire to locate there.”
“Our downtown businesses are great! But the city isn’t doing enough to force the owners of those ‘eye sore’ buildings, ones that have been vacant or under construction/reno for a long time.”
“Downtown businesses are struggling, often turning into ghost towns due to safety concerns. The city does little to support these businesses and sometimes even hinders them.”
“Building a safe, strong downtown business community utilizing the downtown core as a draw to support small business… Many of our local communities (Saugeen Shores, Wiarton, Meaford, Thornbury) do this successfully.”
“...most pressing is homelessness and addiction in the downtown. Desperate people are not human beings at their best and I think many other social problems will be tempered by addressing homelessness.”
“This community is too small to afford a multimillion dollar Tom gallery. A safe city does not include allowing so many people in need of drug, medical and emotional solutions to exist on the River District streets. We all need affordable housing. We need to focus spending money on solutions for all, not just the privileged with artistic envy.”
“The first question: We need to make our city safe for all. It appears that the pendulum has swung too far losing focus on the needs of most. Our downtown core has disintegrated. Stores moving out because of the issues of the homeless and addicted population that has overwhelmed the downtown and surrounding core. the city, along with various partners, have facilitated initiatives that should be improving the issues, but instead the problem is escalating.
Years ago, foot patrol was the norm for our local police downtown. Perhaps, this could deter some of the activity. Businesses should not be left to clean up excrement in their doorways, public should not be driving by Safe and Sound to see people sleeping outside with bare bottoms exposed. Open drug deals. Our city is becoming unsafe and the revitalization of the River District is a complete waste if these underlying issues are not addressed in the immediate future.”
These responses were submitted through a City-commissioned, consultant-led public engagement process that has an allocated budget of $200,000 over a two-year period. Yet rather than sharing this rich dataset with the public or incorporating it into Council deliberations in a meaningful way, the results were shelved.
As the July 28 event narrows access and reframes its scope, questions persist about whether this new round of feedback will be any more visible—or impactful—than the last.
The Owen Sound Current has requested clarification from the City regarding venue options, ticket limits, and whether a comprehensive record of business input will be made available to Council and the public. We will report any updates as they become available.
Editor’s Note: Here are the factual elements of responses provided Thursday by City staff, with all non-essential commentary removed for clarity:
Venue Capacity and Alternatives
The current venue—Harmony Centre’s ‘The Commons’ space—is best suited for a format involving “up to 100 attendees.”
The City stated that if interest exceeds this capacity, they are “prepared to shift either the format or the venue,” with preference given to downtown venues due to the River District focus of the meeting.
Waitlist and Prioritization
As of the City’s latest update, RSVPs include approximately:
• 50% River District businesses
• 25% social service providers
• 25% other stakeholdersThe City is not enforcing a fixed ratio but says it will prioritize business participation.
The City stated that it has “been able to include every stakeholder who has RSVP’d so far” and will continue to admit additional participants from the waitlist.
Meeting Documentation
The meeting will not be recorded, nor will a verbatim record be created.
The only official summary will be prepared by City staff and the facilitator and submitted to Council.
Business owners who wish to ensure their specific concerns are part of the public record are encouraged to submit them directly to Council in writing.
Public Access and Follow-Up
The staff/facilitator’s report will be shared publicly when it is included in a future Council agenda.
Attendees will not have an opportunity to review or verify how their comments are represented before that report goes to Council.
We will provide further updates as they become available.
To be honest, the meeting is a feel good event. It's well known what the large issues are. The structure of the meeting feels like a set up to guilt those dealing with the issues to just accept it because the various social agencies will tell you how hard it is. That pulling on local business owners empathy will somehow make them complain less while dealing with the reality of losing their shops.
Are we going to continue to hold forums, talks and surveys hoping that these talks alone will make some sort of progress? This has been done. The issues have been tabled. Why are we talking about it again instead of actually creating an action plan?
The bottom line is that the only ones who have any power to do anything sit on council and pretend the problem doesn't exist. Even if my some miracle a detailed effective plan is reached, nothing will happen. It will get stopped at council as always.
The meeting is a waste of time based on its current setup and transparency.
Miranda, I sent a response to your questions this morning, but just wanted to note that the event is in the Harmony Centre Commons and quickly reassure our business owners that no one is being turned away, as I've had a few queries this afternoon.
If you have any issues registering, you can reach me at the email above and I'll make sure you're added to the list.
We're working hard to ensure everyone is included. Thank you! -Rebecca (Eller)diem
Community & Business Development Advisor/ City staff lead for this meeting